


Castlevania-themed fairytales

by Laina_Inverse



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Genre: Each chapter is a different story, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Self-Indulgent, Smut, So many AUs, Sometimes we have a pair, Sometimes we have a poly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2020-09-07 13:21:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 169,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20310184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laina_Inverse/pseuds/Laina_Inverse
Summary: What happens when I get on a fairytale rewrite kick while still 100% obsessed with Castlevania. Stories are inspired by Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Snow White , Beauty and the Beast, and at least one prompt I found on tumblr about princesses and dragons that I fell in love with. Some... follow their originals better than others.





	1. Sleeping Beauty

**Author's Note:**

> When baby princess Marianna is cursed to die on her eighteenth birthday by the Countess Carmilla, the king and queen task Trevor and Sypha with the care and raising of the princess in secret. However, there's secret, and Secret, and even the best laid plans can all come tumbling down like a house of cards with the right--or wrong--push.

Sleeping Beauty

Once upon a time...

No, wait, that's not right, is it? Once upon a time? For a story like this? Oh, you think long long ago might be better, hm? Well, it certainly _was_ a long time ago, even as we faerie measure it.

Well then, we shall begin again.

-

Long long ago, back before the kingdoms were unified, a small, independent nation in the mountains was bordered on either side by two greater fae kingdoms. Neither kingdom had any great desire for this little kingdom in the mountains, but they didn't like one another very much, so there were very often clashes across the lands that caused havoc and harm to those caught in the middle.

The kingdom itself however, was considered strictly neutral. They gave no aid to either side, even if they couldn't quite keep them _out_ either.

It was a poor, mostly human kingdom, really. Their biggest exports were in wool and the finest of iron... which naturally, was the _other_ half of the reason the faerie tended to camp along the borders.

The king and queen weren't necessarily the bad sort of human. A little greedy, a little selfish, but ultimately, they cared about their people, and about keeping those people safe from the less pleasant aspects of being sandwiched between two semi-hostile kingdoms.

And then they had their firstborn princess, and everything began to change.

After the first few crucial months where in the baby princess was watched and tended to with care—the humans didn't trust the faerie to not steal her away as a bargaining chip, and they took extra care with her health—it was agreed that they would throw a naming celebration for her.

To keep the peace between the three kingdoms, a number of invitations were sent out to the fairy nobility of both sides. Most declined; they had no desire to see a crying child be named to a congregation, nor any desire to spend that much time around all the iron in the human's halls.

But some accepted, and that was where all the trouble began.

From the kingdom to the east came the Shadow King himself, Vlad Dracula Tepes. Powerful enough to ignore the worst effects of iron, he brought with him his wife, a human woman named Lisa he had made his queen, and his own young son. He came with a small retinue of mixed human and fae which set the servants to gossiping like there was no tomorrow. Many cast their eyes upon one male in particular, who only gave the name Quinn, and otherwise seemed very aloof towards the mortals.

From the kingdom to the west came a general named Godbrand, and three others, who did not deign to give their names, or even casual use-names, to humans.

For a small kingdom, the ceremony was as lavish as it could be; imported dishes, fine music and entertainers, and at the center of it all, the human king and queen, with their infant daughter in a raised bassinet, absolutely _festooned_ with frothy lace. The faerie were divided as was sensible, to opposite sides of the room, and scatted among the crowd were others of great magical knowledge; sorcerers and sorceresses walked among the nobles, and a handful of knights, armed and armored, helped to keep veiled insults and barbs from escalating between faerie courts... and human nobles who didn't know how to leave their feuds at home.

At last, the actual ceremony began; the baby girl was raised on high, and given the name of Marianna, and the human nobles presented the king and queen with gifts for the child. Not to be outdone, the fairies of the western kingdom held a whispered conference, before they stepped forward to give Gifts of their own.

Godbrand gave her the ability to make a boat out of anything. As far as Gifts went, it was.... odd enough to raise murmurs in the human nobility, and a subtle smirk on the lips of the Shadow King. But since the king and queen were not fools, they thanked Godbrand for his Gift, and he stepped aside for the next in his retinue.

Gentility. Health. Kindness. All granted with a briskness that suggested they were only doing this out of a sense of obligation, and not true desire, but the Gifts were granted, just the same.

And then they retreated to their table, as a few from King Tepes's retinue stood to make their own gifts.

Beauty was the first gift. A love of learning the second. But before the third could be bestowed, a cold wind rose, blowing the tall entrance doors open with a dramatic crash.

And in walked the Countess Carmilla.

Ah, a more beautiful faerie you could not find; tall and elegant, with piercing blue eyes and a long cloud of white hair that made a dangerous halo around her face, settling only when she reached the base of the dais where the baby laid.

“Well well,” she said softly, her voice carrying clearly through the silent air. “The interesting part of the celebration has already begun. Was it by _design_, or by _accident_ that you failed to invite the ruler of the kingdom at the west?”

“W... we sent invitations to... to all,” the king protested shakily. “We made s-sure that everyone we knew of would get one.”

“And yet, it seems I did _not.”_

Most of the humans in the room flinched; there was nothing more dangerous than a faerie scorned. A faerie _ruler_, well, that was even more dangerous.

“You are... most welcome?” the king attempted hesitantly.

“Hm. Perhaps I too will give the child a Gift,” and Carmilla's lips curved in a cold smile as she stepped up to the bassinet.

She pushed Quinn from his place before the basket, and he gave way with reluctance; only a fool challenged a ruler, and his own king did not seem inclined to interfere with the proceedings. There was a wordless protest from the human queen as Carmilla lifted the tiny Marianna from the bassinet, and held her up, examining her with a cold calculation.

“Hmph. Such simple, mundane gifts for a princess,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “No imagination from the lot of you. Well then, it seems I must make up for it, shan't I? So... yes, she will grow up graceful, beautiful as humans measure it, all those other things. Her life will be idyllic, or as much as it can be for _humans_. Pity it will be so short, though.”

Carmilla set the baby back into the bassinet, then reached down and touched her forehead, a cruel smile on her lips.

“For on the eve of her majority, one of your own iron tools will bring about her death.”

There was a sizzling snap, and an icy wind raced through the hall, strong enough to send glasses and cutlery to the floor. The queen let out a cry and ran forward to scoop up the child, only to be knocked back into her husband by the strength in the spell.

The wind died as abruptly as it had risen, and when the humans picked themselves up, all the faerie of the western kingdom had vanished.

This time when the queen rushed forward to comfort the crying child, nothing stopped her, and she was able to sweep up the wailing, lace-frothed infant, cradling her protectively to her chest. The king sagged back on his throne, gray-faced with fear.

“Your majesties, perhaps I may yet be of some service,” Quinn said after a long moment had passed. “It is... difficult to change a curse, but they _can_ be changed with enough effort, and I have not yet-”

“You do not have the power to challenge a curse of Carmilla's,” came the slow, low voice of the Shadow King as he stirred from his seat. “You would only harm yourself in the attempt.”

Quinn bowed to his king as the pale faerie stepped up to the trembling human queen. After a moment, he offered a small bow to her.

“I will offer no harm to you or the child,” he said, his tone surprisingly gentle. “May I hold her?”

Slowly, with clear reluctance, the queen offered the baby to Vlad; he held the child easily, and slowly her cries quieted.

“I cannot remove the curse,” he said finally. “Carmilla binds her spells deep, and her way of casting is too dissimilar from my own to unravel with ease. However, I can alter the parameters.”

“And in return?”

He smiled a little at the scared, angry human before him.

“This is a Gift,” he replied. “For the child is blameless, and I cannot abide Carmilla in any case. So...”

Very gently he tapped the baby on her forehead.

“Though you will nick yourself on an iron implement, little one, you will not die. Instead, you and your kingdom shall fall into a slumber that will last for a hundred years.”

“A hundred _years_?”

Vlad raised an eyebrow at the king, who went from outraged to meek in a heartbeat.

“Carmilla's curse it powerful. Anything less and the child will die,” he replied in a calm, foreboding manner.

“But if she sleeps for a hundred years...”

Vlad raised an eyebrow, and the king fell silent again.

“She will not age or die in that time, she will awaken from her sleep as though she went for a nap,” he replied coolly.

“Majesty, if I may?” Quinn said diffidently.

“Speak.”

“I... believe the objection is that the kingdom will sleep as well, and a concern of what will happen when that occurs. It... would not go amiss to place some manner of awakening her early, to prevent any... _problems_.”

Vlad looked at Quinn for a long, assessing moment. There was truth in those cautious words, but something else underwrote it, some _scheme_ that had slipped by unnoticed. Carmilla would not have hesitated to annex the kingdom without a ruler, but the only way to avoid the death of the princess was to spread the power of Carmilla's curse to the whole of the country and her people.

And yet...

“My Gift is given,” he said finally. “Yours is not.”

The Shadow King did not offer the baby to Quinn; he placed her back into the bassinet and stepped back, waving a hand with only a faint hint of mockery. Quinn stepped forward and peered into the basket, seeing the tangle of magic that had been woven around the tiny child, and studied it for a long moment.

“Perhaps....” After a moment, Quinn nodded, and reached into the basket to tap the child on her forehead. “Sleep you must, but if one comes who loves you true, they will raise you with a kiss.”

It wouldn't disperse the curse well; the young and the elderly would suffer with the strength of Carmilla's spell, and some would die.

But the princess would not, and that was currently the mitigating factor.

Vlad turned to go, but stopped short when he saw his young son standing at his elbow, a serious look on his chubby face.

“Yes?”

“...I want to give a Gift too,” the little prince replied.

Vlad raised an eyebrow, then looked at his wife. She merely smiled at him, and after a moment, he sighed a little. There was no harm in humoring the boy, and it was his right as faerie to make such a choice.

So he nodded, and lifted the boy up so that he could look down into the basket. The young prince thought for a long moment then nodded firmly.

“I'll find you when we're big and make it better,” he said firmly. “I promise.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, the Shadow King smiled at his small son, and set him back down. Whether he kept that promise or not, their time in the human kingdom was at an end, and they began to withdraw, though Quinn lingered for several moments.

“Hide her away,” he murmured softly, urgency in his low voice. Unknown to the humans, there was also magic to enforce the suggestion, have it take root and turn it into a command. “In a lodge, perhaps, a place where you know where she is, but she is far enough away from Carmilla as to be protected. With people you can trust to keep her safe, and teach her the things a princess should know.”

“Hide her?” The queen looked stricken. “But-”

“If she survives past the night of her majority, the curse rebounds upon the original caster. It is unlikely that it will actually kill the countess, but it will harm her severely, and that will be all to the good for the rest of us,” Quinn said pointedly. “But if she can be found, Carmilla will make _certain_ the curse is fulfilled. Unless you can find someone who loves her true before then...”

The queen pressed a hand to her trembling lips as Quinn turned and swiftly caught up with the retinue, then turned as her king and husband stepped up, putting her head on his shoulder in a bid for comfort. Her first child, and she would have to be sent away? _Why_ had they thought inviting the faerie was a good idea?

“....Sir Belmont,” the king said, weary command in his voice. “Attend us. The rest of you have Our leave to go.”

Despite the gentility of the words, they were no less a command, and the hall emptied quickly as courtiers and servants alike murmured about what might happen now.

Only two remained; a young knight who had gone unarmored for the celebration, and a woman in blue robes, who rested a hand on his arm.

Trevor Belmont was the last of his line, and in a sense that made him _more_ dangerous, not less; he held no love for the faeries of either kingdom, though he had never counseled picking a side either. The woman was his newly-wed wife, Sypha Belnades ne Belmont; a sorceress of no small talent.

“You are loyal to the throne, are you not, Sir Belmont?” the king asked.

“To throne and country, Majesty,” Trevor replied warily.

“Good. Then this mission I will give to you and your lady wife. Take my daughter to the south woods. A hunting lodge resides there, and will be made open for your use. Hide her. Raise her. And when the day of her majority has passed, bring her back to us.”

“You Majesty, with respect, I'm not sure this is the _best_ course of action,” Sypha said as the stunned silence stretched. “The princess has already been cursed, and counter-cursed; if you want more of a chance at saving her-”

“I am not requesting this, I am _ordering_ it,” the king snapped. “You _will_ hide Marianna until it is safe for her to come home.”

“But-”

Trevor put his hand over Sypha's, and shook his head slightly; the queen had degenerated into weeping, clutching at the edge of the bassinet to stay upright, and the king's eyes held a sort of panicked fury that would rain trouble upon them if they refused.

Sypha pressed her lips together in a thin line, then bowed her head in irritated agreement; it was not what they had planned to do, but Trevor was bound by his oath of loyalty to the throne. They had no choice in the matter.

So they took the babe, took supplies, and headed out into the night.

“...we're not ready for this, not even _slightly_,” Sypha pointed out once they'd made it out of the city surrounding the castle. “We... we were going to travel around the country, see where we fit the best, and then settle there! Not...”

“I know,” Trevor grimaced a little. “I don't like it either, something about that felt... all wrong. But I would rather follow the king's order to hide her than find out later he'd done something.... worse.”

“...so what do we do?”

He sighed, and raked a hand through his hair, disheveling the wiry brown locks.

“Well, I guess we have a kid now?” he offered, half-smiling.

Sypha sighed and smacked his shoulder lightly.

“You can't be serious for longer than two minutes, can you?”

“Sure I can. But you'd think I'd hit my head or something,” he replied with a small smirk. Then he sighed a little, sobering. “In all honesty Sypha, what else can we do? Even if their majesties have other children, she's the crown princess, we _have_ to protect her.”

“...I don't disagree with that,” Sypha said after a long minute. “But I don't... like the way this was handled. Something about it doesn't feel _right_, Trevor.”

“Nothing about this feels _right_,” he replied with a grumble. “If it had been me, I wouldn't have invited _either_ kingdom. They're both more trouble than they're worth, and you know the only reason we're not absorbed by one side or the other is because of the iron mines.”

“Yes,” Sypha's tone was subdued. “And we're going south, far away from those mines and their protection.”

“Well, it's not like we can take her to one of the border estates,” he said dryly. “One's in ruins, the other's in the hands of a family I'd really rather murder than talk to, and they'd never keep their mouths shut anyways.”

He scowled a little, still annoyed even after all these years about the events—events which had taken place two generations back—that had lost them the eastern Belmont estate.

“Are we truly going to make for the king's hunting lodge?”

“...at first,” Trevor said with a small nod. “I want to scout it, see how private it is. If we're going to live there for eighteen years, and keep.... the girl safe from any purposeful faerie meetings, I need to assess it. If I don't like it, we'll be hunting a clearing in the nearby forest itself, and if the king doesn't like that, well, he's the one that told me to hide her.”

“I'm not sure he meant hide her from _everyone_,” Sypha pointed out, though her tone was more amused than anything else.

“Well then he ought to have been specific,” Trevor retorted. “...you should rest. We don't know when the... When she...”

As if summoned by his words, the small basket with the bundled up baby began to move, and sounds of fussing emerged from within. Sypha sighed, turned, and reached back into the wagon to begin her duties as foster mother.

-

Trevor elected to not use the king's lodge as a base, instead finding a clearing that was half a day's walk to the nearest human habitation that would do for secrecy's sake. There he built a house with room to expand, and the makings of a small farm so that they would be as self-sufficient as possible.

Anna, as they chose to call the child, grew quickly as humans do. While Trevor and Sypha never quite _forgot_ that she was the crown princess, it was hard to see that in a little girl who would come in from exploring the woods with scraped up knees, muddy hands, and asking a million questions about the plants she'd seen that day.

They had discussed for a long time how to handle their new duties, eventually agreeing that they would wait for Anna to be a more appropriate age before they revealed the truth. To keep someone from plucking that knowledge from _them_, Sypha invested in a pair of anti-scrying charms, and they wore them at all times.

When Anna was five, Sypha gave birth to twin boys who were given the names of Simon and Gabriel. When she was nine, she was once more made an older sister when Sypha had a daughter that they named Marie.

Even at her youngest, Anna knew there was something different about her. Something that made her parents a shade too formal, a touch to permissive where she was concerned. When the twins came along, that difference became a small wedge that only grew larger as they did. When Marie was born, it grew worse, not better.

But she was a quiet girl, and while she loved to learn, she knew on an instinctive level that some questions would only bring about a worse pain if she knew their answers. So she buried them deep, and suffered in silence, wondering what it was about her that made her feel like the outsider, despite knowing no other family.

(“It's not supposed to be like this,” Sypha protested one night, when everyone was asleep. “She's not supposed to feel like she's alone and isolated.”

“But she does, and there's nothing we can do about it,” Trevor replied tiredly. “Except tell her that we love her and hope that it's enough.”

Whether they had meant to or not, Anna was their daughter, even without the ties of blood. They hoped that one day she would understand that family was as much love and loyalty as it was blood.)

Childhood seemed almost a blur for all of them; in what felt like no time, she had hit the tumultuous teenage years, and slowly, inexorably, things began to change.

-

It was shortly after her fifteenth birthday when she met _him,_ and it was mostly by accident. Shy by nature, Anna often avoided the sounds of people in the wood, though she knew all the foresters and local hunters by season and the sound of their voices; Trevor had cautioned her that they weren't exactly living _legally_ where they were, so a healthy sense of avoidance was prudent.

She heard the horse first from where she was wading in the river, gathering cattail roots and trying to catch the occasional small fish. (If not very hard. It was a long walk back to her home, and keeping the fish from flopping out of her skirt was always a trial.) It was a swiftly moving horse at first, and then there was a stumble and a yelp. She winced in anticipation of a painful sounding thump that never came, and crept to the bank to peer through the rushes.

He was, to be perfectly honest, the _prettiest_ man she'd ever seen. His long hair was flaxen and wavy, tied back from an elegant, fine-boned face that looked more beautiful than handsome. He was_ dressed_ somewhat like a forester, but the clothes seemed somewhat... higher quality than she was used to seeing. A noble forester? Did nobles even _become_ foresters? She'd seen noble hunters once, people who had come from the king's lodge, with dogs and birds and beaters... but this man was out here alone. Just him and his horse.

Anna felt very peasant in comparison with her kinky auburn hair tied tightly back into twin braids, her skirt up around her knees to avoid getting _too_ wet, and her bare legs with the feet coated in river mud. Her shoes lay haphazardly on the bank where she'd discarded them, and never had they felt so far away.

“Shhh, shh, easy now,” he murmured as he swiftly dismounted and moved to check the horse's legs. “Let me see...”

Spying was rude, as her mother had often said, but she couldn't make herself pull away. She watched with an unusual amount of fascination as he carefully checked the legs of the horse... and surprised her when he neglected to check the hooves. From where she was standing, with what she knew about the large draft horse her father had bought to help with the plowing of their small farm, she could tell the horse had picked up a stone somewhere along the path.

She drew back uncertainly, then took in a small breath. She didn't want to confront a stranger, but she couldn't stand the thought of the poor horse having to walk with a stone bruising its foot and making it limp. It didn't matter how unkempt she looked, it just wasn't _right_.

It still took her a good thirty seconds before she was able to push through the rushes and make herself known. When he looked up in surprise, she found herself caught by eyes the color of molten gold, and it took her a moment to pull away; something in her knew those eyes, though she was willing to swear she'd never seen them before.

“A... a st-stone,” she said meekly, ducking her head diffidently. “In the back left hoof. You'll... it needs to come out, or the horse will go lame...”

“Ah, is that what the problem is?” he smiled ruefully, and she felt her heart skip a beat when she peeked at him. “I'm woefully new at caring for horses...”

Something about the way he said it made her think he wasn't being entirely truthful, and that shook some of the gloss from his appearance. Had it been a lure, a trick somehow?

He turned away from her, fumbling with the saddlebag tied behind the saddle, then took a comical stance as he tried to convince the horse it wanted to lift its foot so that he could inspect it. Anna bit back a smile at the antics, and shook her head a little.

“Not like that. Here...”

It was for the horse, she told herself strictly as she took the hoofpick from the man's gloved, slender hand. For the horse.

Digging the stone out didn't take much effort, at least; she'd helped her father clean horse and donkey hooves since she was big enough to hold the pick, and caring for animals was somehow more simple than caring for people.

“...just bruised,” she said, letting the horse put its hoof back down onto the ground. “You may have to walk... her back to your lodgings, but she should be better by morning if you treat her nicely.”

The mare turned her head and snorted a little, making Anna smile shyly. Animals never made her feel left out the way her siblings did; there was no undercurrent of Difference with them.

“My thanks,” and he surprised her by bowing to her, all elegance and refinement. “And I apologize for my lack of manners; my name is Adrian, and this is Sasha. Well,” and he grinned, the mischief briefly erasing the formality, “_I_ call her Sasha, but her registered name is much more dramatic. Aleksandra's Gale, or something like that.”

Despite herself, Anna giggled. Nobles were always naming their horses something odd.

“I'm... Anna,” she replied after a moment, bobbing a somewhat awkward curtsy. “I... I should be going...”

“Oh please don't?” he asked, though he made no move to stop her as she started to back away. “I should really thank you properly, but... Well, all I have is a somewhat large luncheon. Would you care to share it with me?”

Anna hesitated; it would be a long walk home on her own, and she hadn't thought to bring food for herself; the house had been too busy, too loud with the twins clattering everywhere as they were wont. She wouldn't _faint_ if she skipped a meal, but...

He gave her a small, hopeful smile, and she felt her heart thump hard in her chest. After a moment she nodded, and even managed a shy smile of her own.

Common sense told her that this was going to end badly, but something else whispered to her, something beyond the immediate, undeniable attraction. It whispered that with him, she would be safe in a way that not even her parents could make her. He had found her, and as long as they were together, nothing could harm her.

-

She met Adrian again several days later, at the same spot on the river. This time he had brought fishing gear, and she had been treated to the sight of someone who had _no idea_ how to cast a line. Trying not to laugh at him while she made gentle suggestions to correct how he stood, how he cast, and –most importantly—how he _aimed_ made what awkwardness that was there, vanish. Because if _she_ didn't laugh at him, he certainly was willing to laugh at himself, and his laugh was as enchanting as his face.

And when he fell into the river, and she couldn't help herself any longer, he laughed too, and then pulled her in with him so that they both ended up soaking wet. Fishing was quite forgotten in the ensuing splash war, and though they were both quite thoroughly soaked, when she went home it was with a feeling of delicate warmth.

She continued to meet with him, mostly by accident, sometimes by arrangement, as summer passed into fall. As fall turned towards winter, he informed her with genuine regret that he wouldn't be able to come out into the forest until the snows of the season had passed.

(“It won't be forever,” he promised as they sat on the riverbank, closer than usual. “My father doesn't like me traveling around in the winter, that's all. Come spring, I can steal away again.”

He gave her a small, roguish smile, and she couldn't help smiling back, even as she felt the prickle and burn of tears trying to form. It was _stupid_ to be this upset, but the idea of not seeing him for several months...

Anna looked down at her knees instead of at his smiling face, so she wasn't prepared when he scooted closer, slipped an arm around her shoulders, and planted a kiss on her temple.

“Don't look so sad,” he said coaxingly when she looked up at him in surprise. “I promise, as soon as it's safe to travel in the spring, I'll darken this path again, and you can tell me everything I've missed. I'll bring you presents, even~”

Despite the fact that her heart felt like it was cracking into pieces, she had to smile at him.

“You don't have to do that...”

“No, but I'd like to. Maybe we'll get lucky, and meet on your birthday, hm?”

“...that would be... nice...”)

The hands of time marched forward whether she wanted them too or not, and it made her days a little darker, a little colder, to know that there would be no meetings until the leaves began to bud on the trees... if then. For who knew how he would feel in the months that passed? Would he forget his promise to come see her again...? How could she blame him if he did?

Winter was cold and hard, the snows coming up to her knees at their lowest points, and while there was certainly plenty to do around the house—train with her father, learn from her mother, or babysit her siblings—her thoughts often drifted back to the warm summer days, and the warmer summer smiles.

And then she met the second man.

-

“Anna, are you in there?”

Anna winced a little, and looked up from her book at the weary, exasperated tone in her mother's voice. It had not started out being a particularly good day, not in the slightest, and judging by the tone, it was about to get even _more_ difficult. With her father having already gone to see what little winter trade there was, that had left herself and her mother to handle the rambunctious nature of her brothers... and the stubbornness of the baby of the family who had suddenly decided she no longer wanted to _be_ the baby.

Which was really why Anna had been trying to catch a few minutes to study, honestly. It was that or return to debating the merits of running away in the dead of winter...

“...yes, mother,” she replied meekly, putting the book aside unhappily.

Sypha pushed open the door, and looked at the child who was still growing into herself; something had happened over the summer, something that made her happier, but now winter had closed in, and that happiness was draining away day by day. It made the sorceress sad to see, as well as curious about just what had happened out there in the forest.

But those were questions for another time.

“I know it's not the most fun, but I need your help. Since the boys seem inclined towards mischief today-” and they both winced at the sound of a crash, “I can't get out to gather willow or birch bark, or anything else that might help with fevers and vomiting. Would you be willing to go do that for me?”

Anna blinked; bark gathering was usually done in spring for the sap, but it could be done in winter too, if the need was dire.

“Did something happen?” she asked.

“Unfortunately... Trevor sent word from the village that there's a rather unpleasant illness going around, and the medicine makers there are completely depleted. He's on his way back right now to get what we've currently got, but if I give them all of it, there won't be any left. And since you've a gift for plants...”

Anna brightened a little; the house was warm, but it was the farthest thing from quiet. While it was probably churlish to feel grateful, she couldn't entirely help herself; a chance to get out, get _away_ from the squabbling younger siblings and the general air of gloom that permeated in the winter, was not something she was going to turn down.

“Sure, I can go gathering! How much should I get?”

“Focus on the bark, and get as much as you can without killing trees,” Sypha said, a relieved smile lightening the strain in her face. “If you can find me any berries that have vitality to them, that would be wonderful, but don't get frostbite or risk making yourself ill, all right? And be careful.”

There was another crash, and Sypha pulled out of the room quickly, muttering dire threats under her breath that Anna decided she didn't want to listen too closely to. Instead, she slipped out of the library and darted quickly up to her room to add more layers under her skirts, and find her new winter boots. The sooner she escaped, the better, really, so she dressed rapidly, then slipped down the stairs and past the main room where Sypha was in the process of scolding the three younger children.

Looking at them gave Anna something of a pang in her heart; the twins had their mother's ginger hair, if a bit darker, and their father's gray eyes, while Marie had the opposite; Trevor's dark brown hair and the verdant blue eyes of their mother. It made her wonder, as it so often did, if one of her grandparents had had green eyes like her, or the same dusky-golden skin. At least the auburn hair could be understood, but those other traits always made her wonder...

She pushed those thoughts away and hurried into the kitchen, catching up a leather pack as she went. She didn't want to be out so long that she missed a meal, but she knew her own attention span and restlessness meant that it was always a chance, so she packed in some food and water, as well as other, smaller bags to hold bark, berries, and whatever else might come in handy for the village illness. Things to ease fevers and pains, and help people not void the contents of their stomachs...

She pulled on her boots, gloves, and then thick mittens over top before slinging on the pack, then the winter cloak that was starting to become too short; that was almost heartening. She was tired of being tiny, and even though it would probably mean several summer weeks lost to the loom, the idea of making a new cloak was honestly appealing.

Anna scampered out of the house and into the bracing chill of midwinter; soon it would be Longnight, and then after would begin the steady march towards spring.

She couldn't wait for spring; not only would she turn sixteen, the idea of seeing Adrian again made her heart lift. She missed him so much...

She quickly made her way east, following the instinct and intuition that often guided her during the winter months to what she needed most, tramping a careful path through the deep snow as she went. It was hot, difficult work, but she did it, reveling in the relative silence of the forest. Oh, there was the song of the winter birds, of course, and the soft shuffling thump as every now and again the loads of snow became too much for a branch and it slid off to the floor below, but compared to the close confines of the house—Trevor was making noises about expanding it again to give everyone their own room instead of all the children being required to share—it was blissfully, peacefully, silent.

Which was how she _almost_ stabbed him.

The willow trees had called gently to her, and she'd taken out her knife to begin the careful stripping of the outer layers; enough to be useful in tea making, but not enough that the cold could creep into the core of the tree and kill it. She had worked through three trees before someone had cleared their throat _far_ too close for her personal comfort.

And since her father had _insisted_ she learn how to use a knife for more than just cutting plants, she came around swinging.

Fortunately, he had fast reflexes, and made the jump back without any apparent effort. Mostly because he was standing _on_ the snow instead of being mired in it like she was. Anna held the knife defensively before her as she took in the stranger, and felt unease coiling in her gut.

He was taller than her, but that was no surprise; most people were. His skin was pale, his hair was black, his eyes were a deep blue that regarded her with caution, and he was very much _not_ dressed for the weather. If anything, he seemed to be dressed for some sort of fancy gathering, where the halls were all indoors and heated, and it set her on edge.

But none of that compared to the obvious signs that he was not human. The too beautiful face, the ears that came to delicate points, and the fact that he was standing on top of the snow, leaving barely an indent, made her heart clench. There could be no denying that she was looking at one of the faerie.

“I apologize, my lady,” he said formally. “I did not intend to startle you.”

Despite herself, she snorted in disbelief.

“Truly, it was accidental. Could you... perhaps put the weapon away?”

Anna looked at the knife in her hand, then at the inhuman man before her. Cold iron was a threat to faerie, she remembered her father saying that, and right now, as much as it made her feel bad to be so rude, she preferred to have it between herself and him.

“...nuh uh.”

He sighed.

“Please, I mean you no harm. I do not wish to kidnap you, or any other foolishly superstitions knowledge you might have once been told. We're not interested in children, or unwilling conscripts. They take too much effort to control.”

Anna didn't say anything, nor did she break eye contact. She scooped up her pack with her free hand and started moving sideways towards the path she'd already broken. The man turned where he stood on the snow, making no move to approach, though she was willing to bet the subtle changes in his face were frustration more than anything else.

“I wished only to speak to you,” he offered carefully.

“I don't want to speak to you,” she retorted.

“I have a message for you, from our prince,” he replied. “If you would but listen-”

Anna turned quickly and bolted down the path towards home.

-

“You okay there, Sprout?” Trevor asked, sitting down on the couch. “Your...mother's worried about you.”

It was fair enough; she'd been out maybe two hours and come running back like something was chasing her, then holed up in the study hiding under her favorite blanket without explanation. Having only a half-bag of bark didn't help.

“.... I... there was... someone in the woods today,” she said slowly, not emerging from her blanket cocoon.

Trevor felt his heart jump up in his throat, and worked very hard to keep his tone even; she was still three years from her majority, still _technically_ safe. He'd tried to ask Sypha the details about how curses work, but she wasn't a sorceress who _dealt_ in that sort of thing, and the explanation she had tried to give him had left him more confused than before.

“A new forester?” he asked carefully, leaning forward a little, elbows on his knees to try and peer into her hiding place.

She shook her head and looked up at him.

“I think... he was faerie.”

Trevor jolted, and didn't bother trying to hide it; if one of the faerie had found her, that wasn't just bad, it was _bad_. If they recognized her, if they _knew_...

“Are you hurt? Did he threaten you?” he demanded.

“N.. no. He just... he _scared_ me. He appeared out of nowhere, and he didn't make any sounds, a-and-”

Her breath hitched, and after fifteen years worth of helping to raise her, Trevor knew what to do. He put an arm around the girl who was his daughter in heart if not by blood, and hugged her as she burst into tears. True, there was a chance she was over-reacting to the situation, but he'd taught her to trust in her instincts, and if her instincts had told her to run, he was more than glad she'd done so.

It was definitely a problem if they'd been found by one of the faerie from either kingdom; moreso if it was one of those from the west. He still remembered the way the Shadow King had loomed over the baby princess, changing a death curse to a sleeping one... and the way the young prince had promised to find her when they were both older.

Had that young prince found her? Was _he_ the reason she was so scared?

Careful to keep his frustration with the situation in check, he rubbed Anna's blanket-covered back until she calmed, then kissed the top of her head. They still had three years left, still had time to figure out how to tell her the truth without hurting her, and until that point, he was still bound to protect her as her father figure.

“You're all right,” he said gently. “No faerie can reach you here. You're safe enough with us.”

He felt her shiver, and hugged her a little more tightly. If any faerie was so foolish, he wasn't above stabbing them to show them the error of their ways, and he didn't _care_ if it started a war. Anna was his daughter, no matter the blood in her veins, no matter the fact that she would return to being a princess when she was the right age.

She was still his daughter, would _always_ be his daughter, and he would take care of anything that threatened her, no matter what it cost.

-

“She's not stable enough,” Sypha said flatly. “She's still in the middle of being a teenager, Trevor, she'd bound to jump to the wrong conclusion, no matter _how_ we try to explain it.”

“She has a right to know,” he retorted. “If we give her the chance to prepare-”

“We're supposed to be keeping her in the dark so that no one else finds her,” and Sypha gentled her tone, recognizing her husband's frustration at the situation; it mirrored her own, really. “If she knows, she can't forget it, and that knowing can lead someone who means her harm right to her.”

“_We_ know,” Trevor said stubbornly.

“_We_ wear protective charms that cost us a fortune and a half to buy,” Sypha shot back. “We don't have a spare fortune lying around, Trevor, and if we get in contact with their majesties to ask for one, _they'll_ know where we are, and things will get even more out of control. She's only fifteen right now... we still have time.”

“Not enough,” he grumbled.

She sighed in agreement, and leaned against him; less than three years until she was at her majority, and they still hadn't worked out a way to tell Anna that she was actually royalty. Oh, they had _tried_ to give her the lessons that a noble might've had—Anna knew how to read and write, she could do complicated sums, and she had a surprising amount of natural charisma when she was enthusiastic about something—but they weren't in a position to give her the true education she was going to need as the crown princess.

And if Sypha was being honest, the idea of Anna as a ruler made her feel a little ill; not because she doubted the girl _could_ do it, but because it simply didn't suit her nature. She was sweet, she was kind, and she was _shy._ It was hard to picture her making the difficult decisions a leader _had_ to make... harder still with the news that their majesties now had three more children; a son and two more daughters.

The longer Anna was away from her place, the more the king and queen might consider giving that place to their son in more than just name...

“Give it a year,” she said finally. “Next winter, when her emotions have steadied down a little more. It's going to be so hard on her to have it... to know fore _certain_ she's not related to either of us.”

Trevor winced a little, and nodded; he was not always the brightest lantern, but it had been hard to miss the way Anna sometimes would look at her siblings, and then herself, with doubt writ loud in her green eyes. They couldn't forget that she was who she was... but that didn't mean they loved her any less.

“Next winter,” he said solemnly. “Because if we wait much longer, then we really _will_ have problems.”

-

Anna stayed close to the house for the deepest winter weeks, too scared of the strange faerie to move beyond the boundaries of her mother's protective wards. She had never met any prince, wasn't _inclined_ to meet a prince of the faerie, and was willingly trading her outside time for safety.

She had always been cautioned about faerie; treat them politely, but don't linger around them. But something about that one... something about him _scared_ her.

It couldn't last, of course; as Longnight passed, and the weather turned, the fear faded and restlessness pushed at her. It had been weeks, it had been an accidental encounter, and he hadn't followed her home. Surely she was safe enough to go out for a walk, to check the trees for signs of the coming spring, measure the ice that covered the river to see if it was work trying to cut into it and get some of the deepwater fish...

Multiple times she caught herself preparing to go for a long trek and was torn between her desire to get out of the house for solitude, and a fierce need to stay safe. There would be no lucky stumble across Adrian, not for some weeks yet, and an _un_lucky stumble across the strange fae twisted the fear inside of her.

But she couldn't stay cooped up indefinitely; as winter continued to slip softly past, she began making small trips out again. Quick ones that didn't lead her too far beyond the safety she craved, but far enough to give her the semblance of solitude and peace she needed. Or she went with someone; father, mother, siblings, it didn't matter so long as she had someone familiar nearby... even if taking the twins out usually ended in snowball fights and soaked clothes.

When the strange faerie failed to make another appearance, her caution melted away much like the snow. She went out on her own, for longer walks that took her farther from the confines of the house; she plucked green buds as they appeared on branches, and tracked the growth of a dozen plants as the snow became less day by day. She got stuck in half-frozen mud and spent two days trying to clean the mess from her boots, and as spring advanced, the thought of being able to see Adrian again won out over the fear of the strange faerie that had surprised her out in the snow.

But she never forgot him entirely either...

-

It was her birthday; the one day she could sleep in, skip chores, and do whatever she wanted. The one day where she didn't have to think about juggling the pestering demands of her brother, the plaintive, impossible to refuse questions of her sister, and the sensible, necessary requests of her parents.

It was the day she hoped that a walk by the river would bring her friend back.

The day dawned clear, daylight tinging the clouds a soft pink as the sun slowly rose; she slipped out of bed without waking her siblings, bathed and dressed without disturbing her parents—though she was quite sure they were both already awake, as spring was a busy time for everyone—and made a quick breakfast just for herself that involved the fastest of her favorite foods, and only a few complaints from the house pets about how she wasn't sharing with them.

She filled a pack with food that could be eaten on the go, and books both blank and for her to read as the mood took her, then slipped out the door even as she heard her parents emerging from their room. They had discussed it the day before, and while she had been cautioned about the usual things, it had been agreed that there was no harm in her taking the whole day to do with as she pleased.

Anna's stride was short, but she put distance between herself and the house quickly; the last thing she wanted was to be called back, to have her solitary day cut short for one reason or another. While her mother certainly had ways of contacting her if there was a true emergency, she didn't plan to turn back for anything less.

Once she had left the house in the distance, she slowed, allowing herself to breathe in the scent of green and growing things. The last of the snow had finally left, and though the nights were still cold, each day was a little more warm, a little more green. She watched in unfeigned delight as a veritable horde of squirrels raced along the branches of the trees overhead, alternately fighting and just chattering; birds sang spring songs, seeking their own mates or diversions she couldn't really say, and the air was full of nothing more than sheer potential.

She did her best to keep from hoping that he might be there; it was still early enough in spring that maybe he had more to do that didn't involve meeting someone like her in the middle of the woods just to talk.

At the sound of a nearby horse she jumped, and hastily looked around for a place to hide; the king's foresters would be going through the area now too, now that the snows were gone and the footing more secure. Looking for those who didn't belong, those so painfully poor as to poach in the forest despite the penalties.

She hated it when the foresters actually found someone. It wasn't fair to punish them for being hungry and desperate.

The riders—for there was certainly more than one—passed by without catching sight of her; she knew both of them as men who were often at the king's lodge, though she had never spoken to either. They were hard men; mercy might have been a word they knew, but they never granted it, not for those who didn't belong. And despite the fact that they lived in the forest, Anna had always been cautioned to avoid the king's men whenever possible.

So she hid, and waited for them to be out of sight and hearing before she continued on her way, following thin trails that would be worn away as the year progressed, only to fill in once more over the winter.

The river was a welcome sight... and a disappointing one. She'd half-hoped that if she arrived near to lunch, he might be there, he might have come seeking her. Of course she was being foolish; a man a beautiful as Adrian would have plenty of other women pestering for his attention over the long winter months. Why would he think about some silly half-promise to come see someone like her again?

Anna bowed her head briefly, then bit her lip, making a face. It was a silly infatuation anyways, no doubt born from the fact that she wasn't really _allowed_ to see many people. It was a restriction she'd never understood, and had started to question recently; she was old enough, and knew how to protect herself, so why her parents refused to take her to the village, refused to let her go along on market day visits, despite taking the other three...

“Pardon me, miss, but I'm looking for a friend of mine, might you have seen her?”

Anna jumped and turned, one hand falling to the knife at her hip in surprise. Adrian grinned down at her from his horse.

“Oh, it _is_ you~,” and his grin turned teasing. “You seem to be both taller and prettier than I remember you being in the fall.”

Anna blushed, and huffed at him a little as he dismounted, looping the reins to a nearby low branch.

“Don't tease.”

“I'm not,” and he smiled at her fondly, reaching out to lightly touch his fingers to her cheek. “Though you were always pretty, and perhaps it's just that I've missed you...”

Common sense and restraint said she shouldn't let him get any closer, but the part of her that had desperately missed having a friend won out; she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, only squeaking a little as his own slid around her waist and lifted her a couple inches off the ground.

“I think _you're_ the one who's grown!” she replied, unable to keep from grinning a little. “You never tried to pick me up before.”

“Yes, well, several months apart, bored out of my mind most days leads to all sorts of new things to fill the time,” he retorted, chuckling. “Besides, you've never hugged me like this before, so it only seemed fair~”

Anna snorted a little, and rested her head on his shoulder, quite willing to let him continue to hold her up so that she could breathe in the subtle spice that rose from his skin.

“....dare I risk a happy birthday, or am I off by a day or so?” he asked after a long moment, his breath warm against her ear.

“No, it's today. I've been given the entire day to myself...” and admittedly with him there, it was already a happier day than she'd expected.

“Did you have plans?”

She shook her head a little.

“I was going to... just walk and gather, really.”

“Gather?”

“Mmhm. It's spring. Everything's budding, or starting to bloom; it's the best time to gather things like willow buds, or spike sprouts before they grow too much.”

Very gently he eased his grip and lowered her back down to the ground; reluctantly, she released him, letting her arms slip from around his neck, albeit unwillingly. A hand came up to briefly brush over her cheek and she looked up obligingly.

She had forgotten how heart-stopping his hopeful smile could be, and caught her breath for a moment.

“Would you care for an escort while you do these things?” he asked.

“...well, that would depend on who's doing the escorting,” she replied, struggling to keep her voice even. “And why.”

“We-ell,” and his smile turned impish, “of course your ever so gallant escort would have to be me, wouldn't it? Because I missed you and your sensible company, and pretty laugh.”

She blushed and ducked her head slightly; she had forgotten how incorrigible a flirt he could be. It made her wonder, just a bit, if he was only practicing his skills on her... though that would make her a poor sampling, since she was unused to compliments of any sort.

“It... might be boring?”

“I won't be bored,” he replied, and his fingers touched her cheek again, coaxing her into looking up. “Believe me, I was bored senseless over the winter; time spent with you is the farthest thing from that.”

Shyly pleased, she ducked her head a little, pressing her cheek into his palm. His hand was warm, and somewhat gently callused; she caught herself before she could give into a half-formed impulse, and stepped back slightly, trying to think beyond the immediate moment.

After all, why would someone like him want to kiss someone like her?

“If.. If you say so... How can I refuse such an offer?”

She thought she saw a flicker of disappointment in his face, but it was hidden so quickly behind his warm smile that she wondered if maybe she was just seeing things.

“Well then, my dear friend, won't you lead on?” he teased gently.

Anna pushed the other thoughts away, and did precisely that.

-

With the return of Adrian to the forest, Anna took every opportunity to leave the house; most days she didn't encounter him, but the days she did, the sun was a little warmer, the air a little softer.

A month passed, and spring was beginning the move towards summer; they had found a patch of hawthorn trees that provided shade and sweet scent... and also some very irritable wasps. Anna had managed to avoid being stung, but Adrian hadn't been _quite_ so lucky, and they had retreated back to the river that was their usual haunt rather quickly.

“Rude little-” he hissed a little as she wrapped the damp, cold cloth around his wrist.

“Sorry,” she smiled sympathetically. “The swelling should go down soon...”

“Maybe if you kissed it better?” he said with a tiny, pained-playful smile.

Anna raised an eyebrow at him, and huffed slightly.

“That's really not how kisses work,” she said, fighting a smile. It was so hard to tell when he was teasing or being sincere sometimes... “Mother being able to kiss it better stopped really working when I got old enough to figure out I wasn't actually that hurt.”

He sighed theatrically, and mock-pouted.

“Kiss it better anyways?”

Despite the situation and her somewhat genuine worry for him—if he was one of those people who reacted badly to a wasp sting, that wouldn't go over well at all—she couldn't help but giggle.

“Oh, if it will make you stop pouting, fine~”

And it wasn't like it was a real kiss anyways... She bent her head slightly, and briefly pressed her lips to the bandage; cold and wet, and yet...

He shifted his hand until it was cupping her cheek, tipped her head up, and leaned in, pressing his mouth to hers.

It was quick enough that she went with it without a second thought; she trusted him to not hurt her, and he had never proven that wrong. His mouth against her was soft, undemanding, and without really acknowledging it, she responded by kissing back.

At least until her brain caught up with what had just happened.

Anna yanked back, slipped, and fell sideways into the water. Though thawed, the water was still _icy_ cold, and she thrust herself upright, only to knock her head into Adrian's chin as he scrambled forward to try and help her out. He yelped and fell backwards; she ended up in the river again with a large enough splash that guaranteed she was going to be soaked to the skin.

She put her hands on her head reflexively as he rubbed his own jaw with a wince, and stared at him, trying to figure out if she was upset or elated. He had kissed her. He had _kissed_ her. _He_ had kissed _her_.

In the end, it was frustration that won out; she clambered out of the river without his help and tried to stride rapidly upstream, agitation turning quickly into the need to move. It wasn't easy; the dripping wet cloth kept trying to wrap around her legs and impede her progress, but she felt if there wasn't some distance, she would either yell at him, or break down in tears.

He caught up quickly, and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Anna, wait, please, I-”

“Don't _touch _me!”

Anna didn't lash out, but she did yank herself away from him. He raised his hands slightly, and she put herself quickly out of reach. She wanted to be elated; he had kissed her. She had _dreamed_ of kissing him, but had lacked the nerve, and he had done it for her. For a long moment she stared at him, trying to read his face, trying to figure out what _he_ was feeling.

If he'd done it on a whim, if he'd done it just to kiss her, just because he _thought_ he could....

The thought stabbed at her, and she felt the prickle and burn of tears.

“Don't... don't _tease_ me with something I... I can't have,” she said finally, her voice shaking. “I'm not stupid, Adrian, I know you're not... you're not telling me everything. _Anything_. But you dress too fine to be a forester, even one as well-paid as those here, and your weapons are too fine to belong to anyone _but_ a noble, and I'm not- I _can't_-”

She hadn't realized how much it would hurt, to have him kiss her. To have it driven forcibly home that his world was not, and could never be, hers. Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she turned away, burying her face in her hands. Something she had wanted, something she had dreamed about, but the moment it happened, the dream, the illusion, it all fell apart. She couldn't lie to herself, and she _refused_ to let him lie for her.

“Anna...”

His arms slipped around her, and as much as it _hurt_, she turned into the embrace, burying her face against his shoulder as his arms wrapped around her, warm and strong;. One hand rested softly on the back of her head, and his cheek rested on her hair; he was quickly going to be as soaked as she was, but that didn't seem to _matter_ to him.

“I'm not trying to lead you on,” he said quietly, gently. “I'm sorry, I just... I didn't want you to run away. I _like_ you, and there aren't many people I can genuinely say that about. I wanted to keep the illusion going just... just a little longer. To have someone who could see _me_, not.... what they want from me, or who the expect me to be.”

She sniffled a little, curling her fingers in his shirt. It had been foolish of herself to try and deny the truth, to pretend he was anything but nobility. But she had wanted to be a fool, had wanted to deny the truth for as long as she could. To _dream_ for as long as she was able.

And now she couldn't dream any longer. Now it was time to hear the truth, even if the truth broke her heart into a million pieces.

“Who _are_ you?” she finally asked, heart already aching in fear of the answer.

He sighed a little, then released her from his hold, stepping back to make a bow she didn't recognize. It was formal, she knew that much, but what it meant, whether it was respectful or not, she couldn't say.

“Prince Adrian Tepes, son of the Shadow King and his mortal wife,” he said quietly.

Anna stared at him, and for the first time since she'd met him, he refused to meet her eyes.

Her best friend was not just a noble, he was a _literal faerie prince_. Or, well, half-faerie. She hadn't known that could be a thing, actually; most faeries never deigned to look at mortals that way. But instinct told her that he was being truthful; this was something much too big to lie about.

“Why did you...?” She bit her lip, and fought against a renewed burn of tears. “Why did you k-kiss me?”

“Because I wanted to,” he said softly, and _now_ he looked at her, golden eyes full of remorse. “Because I _like_ you; I like the way you laugh when I try something new and we find out I'm not actually good at it; you're never mean about it, but it's always a funny situation. I like the way you look when you're focused on sketching a plant picture out _just so_, and you don't even notice that you've drawn in your lower lip to bite at it. I like listening to you as you talk about your family, and helping you figure out a way to address sibling squabbles...”

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, then reached out like he wanted to touch her again. He tabled the motion halfway, and a pang of hurt spread through her chest as he looked at a nearby bush instead of at her. Not reaching back was one of the hardest things she'd done in her short life.

“I like _you_,” he continued after a long moment. “I missed you all winter long, and I wanted to kiss you when I saw you on your birthday, but there was never an opportunity. I've been trying to _make_ one for weeks now, but you kept...” and he half-smiled, though it seemed somewhat pained, “dodging me.”

Anna blinked, casting her thoughts back over the past few weeks; put into this new context.... and not trying to deny it as she had been, she could see very clearly that he had indeed been trying to kiss her.

Heat rose in her cheeks, and her heart bumped painfully, but she held back.

“You're... you're still...”

“I can't change the circumstances of my birth.... but my mother is as mortal as you are. Moreso actually, because you've been given faerie Gifts; I can see them wrapped around you like tangles of light. Anna,” he looked at her with hope in his face. “I can't... please, even if you don't think you could care for me in that way, I don't want to lose my friend. Will you forgive me for not asking first?”

He held out a hand beseechingly, and the last of her limited ire at the situation melted. He'd never been anything but honest and courteous to her, and even if he'd never told her who he really was, he was still her _friend_. She couldn't turn her back on him, not when...

Slowly she put her hand in his, curling her cold fingers around his warm ones. Ever since she'd met him, his presence has meant _safety_ to her, and she had missed him over the winter with a fierceness that had been surprising at times. He had said so many things, she needed to think about all of them, but she couldn't let him go without at least one thing.

“....will you _ask_ me, next time?”

Adrian's mouth curved slowly into a hesitant smile. Gingerly, he curled his fingers around hers, and drew his arm in, pulling her gently closer, a move she did not fight against.

“Anna... I would very much like to kiss you,” he said softly. “May I?”

Sense told her no. Sense suggested that she was only setting herself up to be hurt more, that this would all come crashing down when he had to marry a princess or a noble of his own lands. But she had stopped listening to that sense when they'd first met; kissing him was all she wanted to do.

“....yes.”

He pulled her in closer, and brought his mouth down to hers again. Soft and sweet, warmth flooded through her that had nothing to do with the slowly westering sun; it helped her to push away the questions that were trying to flood her mind, questions that she would have to address sooner or later.

She elected for later as he pulled her in even tighter; right in the moment, everything was just fine.

-

“Trevor, we might have a problem,” Sypha said quietly as she watched Anna scampering down the path that led out into the forest.

“What have the twins done now?” he sighed, briefly looking up from his lunch.

“It's not the twins, and it's not Marie,” she replied, turning to face him with a worried frown. “It's Anna.”

Trevor blinked, and leaned back in his chair slightly.

“....I think she's met someone out in the forest.”

“....and?”

“Trevor, I know you don't like this secrecy any more than I do, but we _agreed_ to it for a reason, and you know how bad it will be if we let Anna go back in any status other than...”

Sypha grimaced, and Trevor sighed, shaking his head a little.

“What do you want me to do about it?” he asked pointedly. “We haven't told her the truth yet; as far as she's aware, she's the child of a sorceress and a warrior who live in seclusion for reasons yet unstated. A forester would be a step up and away from this current life, without threatening any nobles who live out this way. It would even put her in the way of more people that would be theoretically safe to meet.”

“But they're _not_.”

“But she doesn't _know_ that, Sypha,” he retorted. “And to be fair, if _she_ doesn't know, how can anyone else? No one's seen the crown princess since that mess of a naming day, and even those who did saw a _baby_. And if we caution her, what should we say that won't give the whole mess away?!”

His voice had risen as he did, and he took a moment to take a breath and push away the anger. Bad enough if Anna found out by accident, but having _any_ of the children know...

“We can't stop her from growing up,” he continued after a moment. “We can't protect her from every little thing, and by living out here, we put her in the way of getting a crush on the first friendly person she meets. If we tell her the truth now, she might well get her back up and march to the palace herself; you know how she gets when she decides to finally be stubborn about something...”

Now it was Sypha's turn to sigh, and she loosely wrapped her arms around herself unhappily.

“I sometimes wish we'd never agreed to this,” she muttered.

“I know,” and he smiled ruefully, and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Sometimes I do too, but it was the hand we were given, and to be fair, I think we've raised a pretty good kid. Maybe she's not ready to know anything now, but... well, I don't think she'll hold too much of a grudge at _us_ once she thinks about it.”

Sypha sighed again and leaned against him, loosely wrapping her arms around her husband. In return, Trevor snugged her close, resting his chin on her head. Boy or girl, Anna finding a friend wasn't a bad thing. Anna getting _attached_, that was going to cause problems.

Hopefully, she would understand that.

-

“...you're awfully quiet today,” Adrian said at last, looking up at her from where he was laying on the picnic blanket. “What's on your mind?”

Anna rested her head on her knees and glanced at him briefly, taking in the way he seemed perfectly relaxed and at ease with things. It really wasn't fair that everything seemed to be resolved as far as he was concerned... She still had so many questions, still felt so anxious about.... whatever they were doing. Experimenting? Or was this courtship? She liked kissing him, but she wanted him to at least _act_ like he was taking everything seriously...

“What are 'faerie Gifts'?” she asked after a moment. “Why do I have them?”

“Well, I don't know why you might have them, but faerie Gifts are just what they sound like; things or traits a faerie will give to make a mortal life more.... well, I suppose it would depend on the faerie and the Gift,” he said after a thoughtful moment. “More interesting, easier, more challenging...”

Anna made a slight face.

“Your mother is a sorceress, right?” he asked.

“Mmhm. She's an elementalist, I think, though she doesn't really use her magic for much around the house. Mostly just... lighting fires in winter. Sometimes,” Anna half-smiled wryly, “sometimes making cool breezes when it's too hot in summer, or when the boys want to sail their boats on the duck pond we've got.”

Boats she had found suspiciously easy to make, now that she thought about it....

“Do you know if she's made friends with any faerie?”

Anna shook her head a little.

“My parents don't really... _like_ faerie,” she said slowly. “Though they won't tell me why. I've always been told that if I met one I should be polite, and get away as quickly as possible...”

She shivered a little, rubbing her arms absently; Adrian shifted at the corner of her vision, and she heard more than saw him sit up, scooting over so that he could drape an arm around her shoulders and pull her close. Nothing loathe, she leaned on him, trying to push the memories of that winter encounter out of her mind.

“Sensible advice for certain,” he said, leaning his head affectionately against hers. “Most are capricious in nature, as likely to help as harm. Admittedly not too dissimilar from humans though,” and he lowered his voice conspiratorially, “don't mention that at all~”

She couldn't help but giggle, feeling the tension ease out of her back as he continued to hold her. Whatever it was about him that made him feel safe was still hard at work, and she could easily melt into his arms...

He nuzzled lightly at her temple, then planted a light kiss there.

“What's bothering you?”

“Ah... it's... it's nothing.” she said, blushing a little. “I'm probably just... overthinking things.”

“Are you sure? I don't mind listening if you're unhappy about something, you know.”

She did know, that was part of the problem; She had seen—all right, eavesdropped—on her parents when they had discussions about problems, and the occasional fight born of sheer frustration. They _both_ talked, sharing their views while trying to see and listen to the other person.

But Adrian _didn't_ share with her. Even now that she knew the secret, knew the truth, he still was very reserved about his home life, about whatever lessons and things he had to go with that kept him from coming into the forest as often as he wished.

“I'm fine,” and she gave him a timid smile. “Really. It's nothing to worry about.”

He didn't look entirely convinced, but after a moment just kissed her on the forehead.

“If you're certain...”

He started to lay back down, tugging her with him; nothing loathe, she went with it, curling up against his side.

“...you know you can talk to me too, right?” she asked as the silence stretched. “You don't... have to just _listen_ all the time.”

It surprised him, and she felt it.

“...you don't want me to listen?” he asked after a moment, confused.

Despite herself, Anna giggled.

“I want you to listen, it helps to have someone who.. who does. But..” and she shifted a little so that she could look at him a bit better. “But we're friends, right? You should be able to feel comfortable talking to me about what bothers you too. I don't... I don't want it to be all one-sided. That's not how being friends should work.”

“Aren't we more than just friends?” he teased gently.

She huffed at him, and reached up to poke his cheek lightly.

“We're friends first, smartypants,” she scolded gently. “And stop trying to dodge. You know it's not fair...”

He sighed a little, and leaned up slightly, tugging her back down into his arms. She curled up with her head against his chest and waited.

“I just don't want to bore you,” he said finally, one hand absently stroking over her hair. “You're not.... It's not that I don't think you're smart, or that you won't understand, it's just that I don't want to make you worry. And whatever isn't boring is probably _very_ worrisome for someone outside of the mess of politics and nonsense.”

“I'm a big girl, I can survive a little worry over my best friend,” she replied. “And one would think you might know that being... being _more_ than friends means sharing more than just the good things. I can't help _you_ if I don't know what's wrong.”

It was his turn to huff, but the arm wrapped around her tightened slightly.

“...you may have a point,” he said quietly. “I... I don't want to overwhelm you, Anna... You're smart, and kind.... Maybe I'm being a bit overprotective, but...”

It was interesting whenever he started losing his train of thought like this. It wasn't often; in the two months since that first kiss, it had only happened one other time. He'd been shying away from saying something, and had actually left without clarifying.

She wasn't inclined to let him do that today.

“But..?” she prompted when he fell silent.

After a long moment, Adrian sighed.

“I just don't want to hurt you.... You know that don't you?” he asked a little pleadingly.

Anna nodded, but didn't take her eyes off his face.

“...I was small, when the crown princess of this kingdom was born,” he said finally. “And there was a big... kerfluffle around her naming day. She was cursed to die, and my father changed the curse to save her life. But it wasn't good enough for the human king, so one of my father's retinue added in another clause that would help her, and I... promised to find her and fix things when we were both older.”

She blinked, confused as to why he was saying this, but stayed silent. His hands trailed in her hair, and there was something in his golden eyes...

“The princess vanished; no one knows where she is, not the king, not any noble I've been able to question, and...” he sighed softly. “And I can't break a promise, but I don't... I don't want it misinterpreted. It wasn't her fault, what happened to her, I want to try and make it right, but... but now there's you.”

Anna lifted her head, even more confused. After a moment, he smiled ruefully.

“I just don't know that I can help her any more. You're the only person I want to kiss. But... dire things happen when faerie break promises.”

She sat up a little more, then propped her arms across his chest so that he couldn't move.

“I'm confused,” she said once she was more comfortably situated. “What does kissing me have to do with kissing the princess?”

“...ah, well... my father changed the terms of the curse; she wouldn't die, but her and the kingdom would sleep for a hundred years.” Adrian's hand drifted lightly across her cheek and she nestled absently into the touch. “My father's liege-man offered an... exit clause, I suppose you could say; if someone who truly loved the princess gave her a kiss, the curse would break early.”

“...that's a bit ambiguous, isn't it?” she said after a moment.

“Pardon?”

“Well, what does it even mean? What sort of love?”

Adrian blinked at her, and she half-smiled, shyly reaching out to move some of his hair from his eyes.

“What... sort of love?” he echoed.

“Well, there's all kinds of love,” she replied practically. “I love my siblings and my parents; if anyone hurt them, I'd make them regret it. And...”

She hesitated; she hadn't yet worked out how she felt about him. She enjoyed kissing him, but always in the back of her mind was the knowledge that they didn't stand a chance as a couple, not really. He was a prince, she was a peasant. Even if he _said_ his mother came from the same sort of roots, she doubted a faerie prince—a _half_ faerie prince—would be allowed to have any wife other than a true faerie, to prevent more cross-breeding.

“And that could fit the bill, couldn't it?” she finished, feeling suddenly awkward. “If their majesties truly love their daughter, they could kiss her and wake her, right? Or a very good friend?”

“....you might be right,” he said after a thoughtful minute. “That's certainly a loophole I didn't think of. Though, I don't know that their majesties have even seen the crown princess since her disappearance. If the curse does come to culmination, her recovery might depend on the people around her, rather than the people who don't know her.”

Anna winced a little, sympathetically.

“That would be hard,” she said softly. “To lose your baby to obscurity... And for the princess too, to be raised away from your parents, and always be afraid of the curse...”

He cuddled her gently, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“That is one of the things I like most about you,” he said with a fond smile. “You don't even know her, and you feel sorry for her.”

“I don't feel sorry for _her,_ I feel sorry for her _circumstance,”_ Anna retorted, sticking her tongue out at him briefly. “It's not her fault the faeries cursed her and she had to be hidden away.”

“No, it really isn't,” he sighed a little, nuzzling at her softly. “So, am I forgiven for not detailing the trials of that search to you?”

“Is that really what you've been doing this whole time, searching for a missing princess? You're here an _awful lot_ just for that. I didn't think the country was that big.”

He chuckled a little.

“That's because you've never been beyond this forest, little light,” he said fondly. “When you're of age I want to take you on so many adventures. You should see the world beyond this stand of trees and rivers; it's _vast_, and beautiful.”

“Maybe... but I like it here,” she replied. “I may not know everything about these woods and rivers, but I know more than enough to survive, and even thrive. Bigger places with more people feel intimidating...”

He nuzzled at her softly, fingers trailing lightly across her cheek.

“Well, it's not like we couldn't come back here...”

“...you are definitely not thinking about traveling,” she accused with a small laugh.

He grinned slightly.

“No, I'm thinking about how much I'd like to kiss you,” he admitted. “If I may?”

“...I would like that too.”

-

“Anna, could you come in here for a moment?”

Anna blinked as she finished hanging up her shawl, and traded her boots for indoor shoes. She hadn't meant to get back so late, but she had come with a basket overflowing with berries, so that was a reasonable excuse...

Still, there was something in her mother's tone that made her nervous, even as she obediently stepped into the study. It got worse when she saw her father sitting there as well, looking more perturbed than normal.

“Close the door, please.”

A pit formed in her stomach as she cast her mind back over the past few days; had she done something she wasn't supposed to recently? How much trouble was she in for?

“...relax, Sprout, we're not mad,” Trevor said gently, half-smiling at her. “We just want to make sure you're all right.”

“...all right?” she replied, confused.

“Anna, you'd _tell_ us if you met someone in the forest, right?” Sypha asked, blue eyes narrowing slightly. “You know it's not safe to be seen by the king's men...”

Anna winced.

“Ah, well...”

Sypha sighed.

“He's... he's not a forester?” Anna offered meekly, slinking to the seat her mother pointed at.

“A poacher?” Trevor asked, his tone lazy. “Or a villager, maybe?”

“No!” Anna sat upright slightly, offended on Adrian's behalf... not to mention her own. “Father, I'd _never_-”

“Who is it, Anna?” Sypha interrupted. “And what are you doing with him?”

“He's just a friend! We're... we're not doing anything but talk!”

Well, and kiss, but with the way her mother looked, she wasn't sure she wanted to own up to _that_. She was quite certain she'd be scolded, not to mention confined to the house if she did.

“And you haven't brought him to meet us because?” Trevor drawled.

Anna planted her hands on her knees and huffed a little.

“You don't let me go into the village to meet people,” she retorted a little bitterly. “And you always tell me to not talk to people I meet in the forest, but what else am I supposed to do? He needed help, his _horse_ needed help, and I wasn't going to just.. _stand_ there and do nothing! Why do I have to be so... so _isolated_ from people? What's so _wrong_ about me that you won't let me go anywhere, or know anyone other than you, and the twins, and Marie?!”

Sypha leaned back, surprised by the outburst, even as Anna flushed, and ducked her head a little; she hadn't meant to say any of that...

“...you're not old enough yet to know the reasons why,” Sypha said, her tone somewhere between scolding and disappointed. “Nor mature enough.”

“Syphaaaa,” Trevor sighed a little.

Sypha crossed her arms over her chest, and looked away; Anna ducked her head a little more, feeling tears prickle at her eyes. So there _was_ a reason they were out here, and it was _her_ fault.

She heard her father sigh again and get up; out of the corner of her eye she saw him gently hug her mother, kissing her temple lightly, then he came over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“It's complicated, Sprout,” he said gently. “There's a lot to explain, and it's.... it's painful. It won't be just you it effects, it'll be the twins and Marie too, and figuring out where to begin...”

Her fault. Whatever it was, it was _her fault_ they were out here, lost in this deep forest that was half a day's travel from other people. It was her fault the twins and Marie only had each other and her as playmates, it was _her fault..._

“Look, if you can promise us that you'll... be _careful_ with your friend, we'll drop it for now,” he continued after a moment, squeezing her shoulder lightly. “We just want to prevent you from getting hurt...”

Too little too late for that, but not something she was going to admit to her father. How could she tell him, tell _them_, that she'd befriended, that she cared deeply for, a half-faerie prince?

“....may I be excused?” she asked after a long moment, not looking at either adult. “I'm tired...”

Her parents exchanged a look, then Sypha sighed a little, nodding. Despite the budding hurt, when her mother opened her arms for a hug, Anna curled into them; they loved her, she _knew_ they did. But she was getting so _tired_ of secrets, and hidden knowledge.

She still squeaked when her father came up behind and wrapped them both up in a bear hug, and couldn't help but giggle at he growled playfully, lifting both women a few inches off the floor.

“Trevor!” Sypha protested, laughing a bit herself. “Stop that!”

“What?” and he grinned down at them. “You're not having fun?~”

“It's _undignified!_”

“And who's there to be dignified for?” he retorted, squeezing them both briefly before obligingly letting go. “Certainly no one I know~”

He ruffled Anna's hair, making her laugh, then gently pushed her at the door as he turned to kiss his wife. Anna watched only for a moment—wistfully, wondering if someday she might find that sort of love—then slipped out the door and climbed the stairs.

Since Trevor had renovated the house yet again, they each had their own rooms now, a luxury with the spring days turning towards summer. Having a private space meant that Anna could take refuge in silence, without wondering if she might wake up her siblings when she went to bed later than usual, or got up early.

It also gave her the space to think, and that was not always a welcome prospect.

As she climbed into bed after changing to her sleeping shift, she found herself wondering just what secret her parents were keeping about her. For a moment she considered the idea that _she_ could be the crown princess, then snorted. True, she had played at being princess while she was younger, but didn't most children? Her brothers had certainly been trying to playact as princes, despite only knowing what they did from story books, and she didn't doubt Marie would have a princess phase of her own...

She rolled onto her side, dismissing the idea as nothing more than fanciful nonsense; she wouldn't like to be a princess, dealing with people all the time. While she didn't necessarily enjoy being _so_ isolated, she loved the forest, loved the stillness and the silence. Her clothing was comfortable and practical, and she could do as she pleased once the daily chores were done and over with.

Besides, what princess would have combat training?

The thought made her smile, even as she snuggled down under her blanket. True, she hadn't ever really needed to _use_ that training, but really, what princess would ever get it in the first place? Wouldn't her caretakers have been more worried about... nicer things?

No, she was no princess, and she certainly didn't want to be one.

-

Summer was filled with little moments like that. Contentious days where she had to push hard to get Adrian to open up; difficult nights where she wrestled with wanting to know, and alternately _not_ wanting to know what her parents secret was. Sometimes she argued with her parents, stomped away from the house and the clearing in as much of a temper as she ever had; sometimes she got frustrated with Adrian and subsided into a sulky silence, leaving it up to him whether they spoke or not.

But always her temper subsided quickly; she just couldn't hold onto her anger for very long. Adrian would coax out a smile, teasing her into a better mood even as he finally shared some small bit about his life. She would apologize to her parents, or they to her, and whatever the source of the argument had been would be gone over with more careful word choice, more gentle tone.

And even on the most contrary days, she couldn't help but find peace and comfort in Adrian's presence. If she could compare it to anything, it was some of her earliest childhood memories, coming back after a long winter walk and being bundled up in a thick blanket with a mug of soup between her parents before the fire.

Time spent with him seemed to move so much faster than time without him, and she was always looking forward to their next encounter. As summer turned towards fall, however, the meetings were tinged with sadness; she wanted time to slow down, to give her more days where she could lay in his arms, where they could kiss and touch and she could pretend for a moment that they were just two ordinary people.

The dream never lasted; always in the back of her mind was that soft warning whisper; he was a prince, never mind being of faerie blood. She was a peasant, a wise woman at best, and admittedly she never felt that wise.

But when she could float in that dream... Oh, it was the best dream she'd ever had.

Sadly, like all dreams, it eventually had to come to an end.

-

The fall air had taken it's warning bite of winter's cold early; a hard frost that refused to melt as the sunlight filtered down through the trees. Anna had been forced to wear a long coat, and they had moved away from the river's chill for their walk when he'd quietly broken the news that it would be their last meeting until spring.

It hurt. It hurt so much to know that she wouldn't be able to see him or talk to him for months. To know that as he worked all winter there would be a chance for someone else to come to him, someone else for him to... to want to be with.

If this was falling in love, she was almost certain she didn't actually want it.

“...do you really have to go?” she asked softly as they walked a slowly darkening path.

“I do,” he sighed a little. “I wouldn't leave if there was no other choice, but... my work is different in winter. When not with you in these soft months, I do look for the princess. I can't help her like I promised if I can't find her, but... she is very well hidden. Because I made the promise, the work I normally do over these months tends to... pile up. In winter, because of the deep snows that close off so much of this kingdom, I can catch up on what I _should_ have been doing. Unfortunately, it doesn't leave me much time for... well, anything else.”

He tugged her close, snugging her up against him and rested his chin on her head. She curled into him softly, curling her fingers in his shirt and listened to the soft beating of his heart.

“I wish I could stay,” he said softly. “Or bring you with me. Last year was difficult, but this year will be so much worse.”

One hand slipped up, fingertips trailing over her cheek, then he tucked stray strands of hair behind her ear. She leaned carefully into the touch, letting her eyes close; she was going to miss this...

“Anna.... I know a few days here and there over the summer months isn't exactly a lot of time, but... but do you think you could come to love me?” he asked. There was something in his tone, a sort of... quiet desperation that made her look up at him in surprise. “It's just... I know there's some time yet until you're of age, but I don't want to... I don't want there to be any mistakes. If you'll have me...”

Anna went still, looking up into the earnest... pleading? There were so many things in his eyes that she couldn't get a clear read on what all he was feeling. Even just going by body language, from the way he held her close it seemed like he never wanted to let go, but there was a hint of remove. As if he was braced for a rejection.

Not that she could blame him. He'd been pursuing here these long, golden months, and she had been the one who always shied away when things would have gone too far. When the light touches as they kissed became firmer, more exploratory, when the kisses themselves deepened to something bordering on what she thought it was when her father kissed her mother and they were in _that_ sort of mood, she backed away, unable to hold to the illusion that she could have what she wanted.

“Are you asking to... to court me? Properly? With... with marriage in mind?” she said after a hesitant moment.

“I would like nothing more, but... but only if you want it too.”

“Would you be... would you be _allowed_?”

Because that had been the barrier stopping her; she didn't want to be a prince's _mistress._ She didn't want to be a secret, a woman tucked away and come to after the wife. If she was going to be with someone.... if she was going to be with _him_, she wanted it to be open. She wanted to be free to lean up against him in whatever public they aspired to, wanted to be able to give him a kiss when the mood took her, and not worry that somehow it would get back to the wrong person.

She just wanted to be _with_ him, and not be afraid.

Adrian half-smiled, and nuzzled at her gently.

“The only two people who can tell me what to do are fully supportive of my choice to find my own partner,” he said softly. “It doesn't matter if my choice is a faerie, a human, or even another person like me; they just want me to be happy, and... and you're the one who makes me happy, Anna.”

She flushed a little, half-hiding against his chest, and curled her fingers in his shirt. It was the most open she'd seen him be, the most... _honest_. She made him happy? He wanted to court her, to marry _her_?

It was her greatest secret dream, but... what was so special about _her_ that he would want it too?

“_Me_?” she asked plaintively. “You're... you could have... _anyone_...”

“I don't want _anyone._ I want _you_,” and he kissed her, soft and brief. “Because you're kind and gentle, and occasionally pushy and frustrating. You're strong in your own way, and you're smart. When I'm with you, I'm not wondering if you like me for power, prestige, magic, or anything else. I can... I can _relax_ and be myself around you. You're... Being with you feels like something I've been hunting my whole life, but never really knew I _was,_ until I found you.”

They were pretty words.... and he meant every one of them. There was sincerity, _conviction_ in his voice, not the gently teasing humor she was used to hearing when he tried to give her compliments. It made her heart thump almost painfully loud in her ears as she tried to process the idea that he, a faerie prince, wanted _her_.

“I just... I needed you to know before I left,” he said softly. “That I.... that I love you, Anna. That I would love to spend a lifetime with you, have children with you, all of it.”

It was enough to make a girl dizzy, and she was abruptly very glad of the arm around her waist as she tried to take it all in. He loved her, a little nothing peasant who lived in solitude with her family, and he wanted to spend his life with her. It made the lonely, hopelessly romantic part of her delirious with happiness. It was like something out of a story.

It made the sensible part of her terrified. Did she love him? Did she even know what love _was_? She had never been around a great number of people, was she just clinging to him because she was lonely, and in desperate need of a friend? Did she _want_ to be in love with him because he was the only friend she had, and the idea that he might leave her someday for someone else was absolutely terrifying?

His hand moved slowly on her back, small, soothing circles as she tried to catch her breath, tried to keep from passing out at the cascade of emotions she'd never thought to expect and had no idea how to manage. She clung to him, and he soothed her softly; even when the panic was his fault, his touch calmed her.

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to overwhelm you. I wasn't thinking,” he murmured. “You don't have to answer me right now, Anna. I promise, you don't. And I promise that if you don't feel the same, I'll never bring it up again. We can be friends, good friends who care for one another.”

His words eased the panicked part of her mind, and she finally managed to even out her ragged breathing. She didn't have to answer now. She could...

“B-but... winter,” she protested feebly. “You're _leaving_.”

He kissed her forehead.

“I'll be back in spring, that's a promise. On your birthday again if I can manage it, with a proper present, even,” and his half-smile was almost heartbreaking. “Will you think about it?”

A small part of her wanted to give him a scornful answer; as if she could _avoid_ thinking about it. He'd given her something to hope for, but it was such a terrifying idea; what would being his betrothed mean for her? How much would her life have to change if she agreed to this?

But on the other hand, how much would change if she rejected it out of hand? Rejected _him_ out of hand?

She closed her eyes and briefly pressed her forehead against his shirt.

“I'll think about it,” she said softly. “But... Adrian?”

“Mmm?”

“....I think I do love you too.”

-

“Are you okay, Sprout?”

Anna looked up from where she was sitting on her bed, and offered her father an unhappy smile.

“Not.... not really,” she admitted.

“Want to talk about it?”

Anna looked away. After a moment the edge of the bed dipped as Trevor perched on it, and she leaned into the embrace her father offered.

“....what's... what's being in love like?” she asked quietly.

“Complicated,” Trevor replied after a surprised moment. “It's a choice you make every day, mostly. Sometimes you can love a person very much, but at the same time not _like_ them, like when you're disagreeing on things. There's... easy days and hard days, and days where you wonder if it's really all worth it...”

He went quiet for a few minutes, and Anna just leaned against him unhappily.

“There was a time before I met... your mother where I was pretty damn miserable every day,” he said finally. “I did my job, but I hated it because I was alone. And even after meeting her, it took me a while to realize that I wasn't as miserable any more because I had her to talk with, I had her to share my adventures, to yell at me when I was reckless, or to make fun of me when I did something really stupid; someone to care about me when I was hurt, or sick, to talk to and tease when I felt alone. She became the first friend I'd had in... years, really. And I realized I never wanted to be with anyone else _but_ her, because she understood me, and didn't try to make me be someone I'm not. Sure sometimes she shouts at me, and sometimes I shout at her, but we're partners. We're _friends_. I know she's got my back, even when I do something stupid.”

He chuckled a little, and Anna felt something ease inside of her, even as his hand came up to rest on her head gently. It was comforting to know that her father, never the best at expressing emotional events, was _trying_ to make sense of things because it was what she needed him to do.

“Do you think you're in love with your forest friend?” he asked after a moment.

“...I don't know,” she admitted. “Maybe? It... today was... he won't be back until spring. And he said some things that... that are scary, but I really want them to be true. I just...”

Trevor's quiet this time was less comforting. Something she'd said had shifted him from the warm father she knew and adored, to someone just slightly removed from the conversation. But after a moment he sighed, an she felt him relax again.

“Well, you have all winter to think about it and try to figure it out,” he said, gently ruffling her hair. “And whatever you decide, I'll back you if you need to talk to your mother about it.”

Something about the way he said it made her wonder just what sort of trouble would be sparked if she decided in favor of accepting Adrian. They still carried some secret about her, some _mystery_ that was still wrapped in shrouds of silence.

Anna hugged him anyways, because his support made her feel calmer about the whole thing.

“Better?” he asked with a small chuckle.

“A little.”

“Good. Get some sleep; the snows are looking to fall soon, and we need to be prepared.”

“Yes sir.”

-

“That's not good,” Sypha murmured worriedly, nibbling lightly at the edge of her thumb.

“It's not exactly unexpected, though,” Trevor pointed out. “We did kind of set this whole thing up to fall apart...”

“....I know,” she sighed a little. “Maybe we should have stayed at the king's hunting lodge instead of striking out for this hidden place...”

“As if we'd have been allowed to stay there very long before the truth came out,” Trevor snorted a little. “The king would have gone bankrupt making blocking charms for everyone who would have needed them.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Sypha had to smile.

“You're probably right. And they would have made much of her, spoiling her and trying to make her the perfect little princess...”

“Well, they could have _tried_,” Trevor said, leaning back a little in his chair. “But I doubt they could really make her a spoiled noble type. It's just not her personality.”

“Do you think there's anything we can do?”

He shrugged.

“Not really. Let her think things through; maybe it'll fade when he's not here over the winter, maybe it won't, but she _is_ crown princess, and even if she doesn't always get her way, I can't see her not fighting for something, or someone, she really cares about and wants. Remember how she got her back up when we tried talking to her about it before?”

Sypha grimaced a little, nodding. If it was a simple forester, which really was the most logical choice out here, it would be a rough time ahead for both of them, but if they weathered through it.... if Anna decided that she did, in fact, love this person....

She sighed.

“You know, as much as I hate to say it, it might just be better to _not_ tell her the truth,” she said finally. “No one knows what happened to the crown princess, no one knows what she looks like, and 'Anna' isn't 'Marianna'. The king has no idea where we are, and their majesties have two more children, one of which is a son.”

Trevor blinked at her in surprise.

“You're saying we shouldn't send her back after the curse falls apart?” he asked after a long, startled moment.

“No, we shouldn't. We should let her live _this_ life. It's... well, it's _right_ for her, in a way that being princess wouldn't be. You know as well as I do that our choices will make it harder on her if she does go back. She's not used to people, she's not... the court would eat her up, Trevor, you know that better than anyone.”

He slowly got out of his chair, and moved to wrap his arms around his wife.

“We have to tell her,” he said reluctantly. “She already knows we're keeping a secret about her, and she's blaming herself for it. We agreed we'd tell her this winter, so she'd have time to adjust to the idea, remember?”

“She's still got another year,” Sypha replied, leaning her head against Trevor's chest. “Knowing too soon...”

“Isn't too soon better than too late?” he asked pointedly. “Or... you know she listens in sometimes, Sypha. All the kids do. If she doesn't hear it _straight_ from us at some point, she's going to just be hurt worse.”

Sypha pressed her forehead lightly against her husband's neck; it was almost funny how their positions had reversed from when Anna was small; she'd been in favor of telling her early, of letting her know from a time she was old enough to understand what a curse was, and what it would mean for her. Trevor had advocated waiting.... and then Sypha had carried and birthed their children, and now she didn't want Anna to know of her heritage, while Trevor rather did.

And what they _both_ wanted was for Anna to be happy.

“Midwinter?” he suggested gently.

Sypha sighed tiredly.

“Midwinter,” she agreed reluctantly.

-

The winter snows fell early and deep, and was followed by a fierce cold that threatened to do more than just keep them all indoors as much as possible. Braziers were required to be set up in the stables, heavy stone ones that took Trevor, Anna, and Sypha several hours worth of work to set up. The chickens were brought into the main house to keep them from freezing in the night cold, which meant extra cleaning, and someone having to keep watch over the screen before the fire to make sure that the silly birds didn't knock it over.

The children all crowded into a single bed at night again, though the twins often complained about having to sleep 'with the girls'. Those complaints ceased when it grew cold enough that despite all the weather-proofing and warm blankets, everyone crowded into the main room to sleep near the fireplace, which was kept burning to stave off the freeze.

So naturally, when one of them became ill, _all_ of them became ill in short order. It made an already difficult winter even more trying as they went through the medicines both Sypha and Anna could concoct in short order, requiring the two women to dress in layers and go out into the bitter cold to seek what little there was to be found in the winter snows.

-

Anna huddled miserably in her clothes as she tried to break a path towards the plants she could sense; the weather-wise villagers her father had spoken to before he'd succumbed to the illness they were all suffering had _sworn_ that the cold snap would break just after Midwinter. Given that it felt rather like she was trying to breath ice into her lungs instead of air, she hoped that was the case. Between the too-cold weather, her sick siblings, and the occasional looks her parents would share when they thought she wasn't watching, she'd barely had the time to think about Adrian's offer, let alone wrestle with her own feelings on the matter.

She dug into the snow with a wheeze and pained wince; when she had gathered what she could with numb fingers, she straightened, turned, and let out a breathless shriek.

The faerie man from the previous winter had found her once again.

He looked exactly the same; dark hair, blue eyes, and impractical clothes more suited to a properly warmed house instead of a half-frozen forest.

He was also between her and the path home, and for a moment, Anna wished she'd agreed to walk with her mother instead of the two of them splitting up to try and maximize what they could gather in the limited daylight.

“...you are ill,” he said after a long moment, breath puffing out into white clouds. “May I assist you, highness?”

“...h-highness?”

It was hard to get the word out; her voice was a barely audible rasp, and speaking the past few days had been a hit or miss endeavor. She still wasn't half as bad as her brothers, who were too sick to even torment each other, or Marie, whose high fever had prompted both her and Sypha to look for plants.

“Ah. I see. My apologies. You have not yet...” the faerie seemed to check himself, and she got a sense of something akin to calculation in his movements. “Well. May I aid you? You seem very... unfortunately presented.”

“I'm... I've got it.... It's my t-task.”

And really, she just wanted to get it done so that she could get back to the house. She wanted to be home, be safe behind her mother's wards, within reach of her father's weapons. She didn't know what it was about this faerie male, but there was something _false_ about him. Something in her said that he would cause her great harm.

“Ah. But you are ill, perhaps you are not best suited to the task at hand?”

Anna bristled at the implied insult aimed towards her parents.

“We're _all_ sick,” she snapped. “Mother and I are out here t-too... find things that will help us recover.”

“All?” A fine black brow rose.

Anna pressed her lips together behind her scarf, then turned away to cover a hard spate of coughing that drove her to her knees. She wasn't going to let this illness defeat her, not when she still had Adrian to give an answer to in spring, but _gods_ was she tired...

When she lifted her head again, the faerie male seemed to be regarding her with the sort of air that one regarded a rather gruesome looking insect. Curious, perhaps, but wary, and unwilling to get too close to them.

That was almost heartening. Now if only she could get him to go away entirely so she could get what she needed and _leave_.

“You should be resting,” he said finally. “Pampered and cared for, not out in this weather.”

She just turned away from him pointedly and started towards the nearest tree that whispered to her. With the deep cold, she had to be more cautious than normal about how much she could take, but if she could get enough to help...

Every time she turned around, he was still there, watching her through narrowed blue eyes. She wanted him to _leave,_ but she was willing to settle for him not interfering, and not talking to her. It wasn't comfortable, she certainly didn't feel _safe_, but she could put up with it.

It did occur to her that he might be a willow faerie, but it was the wrong stand of trees from the prior year, and if these willows had had a guardian already, she was fairly sure she would have known. There were some stands in the forest that _radiated_ 'do not touch', but these had never been one of them. Besides which, if she was remembering the stories right, willows were female...

Anna dragged her mind back to the present as she finished adding the bark to her basket and turned. To her relief, the faerie was no longer standing on the snow, and a quick perusal around as well as up into the branches showed no signs of him. She moved back down the path, exhaustion dragging at her limbs as she returned to where she had agreed to meet her mother, and in the back of her mind got the sense that winter had just gotten more complicated.

-

Midwinter was only barely celebrated; there was simply no energy for the more elaborate festivities that they usually indulged in, nor the stories told at the darkest hours. Anna thought longingly of the warmth of summer, and dreamed often of the days where she'd done nothing more than lay in Adrian's hold, listening to his steady heartbeat.

The cold bit her in one manner, the illness another; missing him fiercely was just another layer into the difficulties of surviving.

But survive they did. Slowly, the freeze eased, until it was the normal winter's chill; the chickens were moved back to their own house, the horses did not require the braziers, and the humans could all sleep in their own rooms again. Recovering from the illness was slower; Marie, Gabriel, and Simon all bounced back rapidly once the worst of it was over, but Anna's cough and physical exhaustion lingered long after the rest of her family was well.

Now that she was the only one ill, she was certainly pampered by her standards; tucked securely into her own bed with multiple blankets, her parents would check on her several times during the day when she couldn't drag herself out of the bed. She was brought tea and soups, given soothing throat drops, and the occasional vile medicine that did, in fact, help. It was just vile-tasting.

It did, at last, give her the time to think about what Adrian had said. She wanted to shy away from it, to never have it brought up again; at the same time she wanted to hear him say that he loved her again. She wanted to be able to say that she loved _him_, and know that it was safe to do so.

She was almost certain that she did by the time her strength returned. She longed to see him, to hear his voice and feel his touch. To be held by him, to be reassured that he had missed her too.

Winter, however, seemed disinclined to give up its hold on the land. Though the cold had finally broken, the snow lingered beyond its usual term, the sun hidden more often than not by thick clouds. What green buds attempted to thrust up from beneath the frozen ground were quickly snatched at by deer or birds, and even the ice on the river seemed sluggish about cracking.

And every time she went out to see what there was, to gather beyond the bounds of her mother's wards, that strange faerie was back. Most days she didn't see him, but she _sensed_ him; the eyes that watched her assessingly, as though passing judgment on some qualities she did or did not have. When she did see him, his clipped, accented voice implied that she was less than she ought to be; whatever he was looking for in her, he wasn't finding it, and yet he _kept_ looking for it.

It would have been even more distressing if it wasn't annoying, really. What right had he, a complete stranger, to judge her life?

-

“It's as much of a temper as she's ever displayed,” Sypha said with a small frown as Trevor finished sweeping up the clay shards from the jar Anna had thrown to the ground before running off and slamming the door to her room. “But she only just finished her monthlies, and temper isn't usually her go-to.”

“Even with you as an example,” Trevor teased gently.

Sypha made a face at him.

“It may just be that she's frustrated with the weather,” he pointed out. “You know she's looking forward to seeing her friend again, and she implied as much that he'd come back in the spring. We _should_ be having spring right now, but we're still in the last dregs of winter. Hell, _I'm_ frustrated with this weather; we're supposed to be planting right now, not dealing with a hard freeze every night still, and don't even get me _started_ on the state of the creatures I ought to be able to hunt.”

Sypha sighed a little, nodding if a bit reluctantly. It had been a harsh winter, harder than any they'd known in recent years. Between the killing cold and the illness, she'd almost wondered if they'd managed to attract a curse or three, but her wards had shown no signs of inimical magics...

She folded her arms loosely across her chest; it would be Anna's birthday soon, the coldest since the girl had been born. Had Carmilla, in a bid to draw her out, meddled with the weather? She'd heard some faeries could do that, though it was often at great cost.

“You know she can't keep her temper up for long anyways,” he continued, dumping the shards in an out of the way corner where they wouldn't be stepped on. “Give it an hour, maybe two, and she'll come back down, apologize, and we can ask her what prompted this then.”

Sypha half-smiled as Trevor came over and wrapped his arms around her, leaning against him comfortably.

“...well, you're right about that much, at least,” she said with a small nod. “Though there are days where I wish she had more of one, you know? It... if we tell her, having a temper would probably serve her in good standing.”

Trevor grimaced a little. Their plans to tell everyone at Midwinter had fallen apart with all of them being ill, and then it had _lingered_ with Anna, making him unwilling to try until she was completely recovered. But now that she was, like Sypha, he felt a reluctance to break the idyll. She was _their_ daughter, blood relation or not, and the idea of throwing her into the pit of wolves and shrews that had compromised the royal court the last time he'd visited...

He sighed.

“We'll cross that bridge when we finally get to it,” he said after a minute. “We _have_ to, at some point, though I wonder if she'd believe us...”

Now _Sypha_ sighed.

“If we tell her, and tell her she has a choice, do you think she'd choose to stay?” she asked wistfully.

“That... probably would require her to both believe us, _and_ feel like she's being given a choice,” Trevor said slowly. “Pretty sure if the king sends men out to find her, she won't feel that way...”

Sypha grimaced; while Trevor _had_ kept in minimal contact with the king as required over the past almost-seventeen years, and they _had_ managed to keep their true living situation a secret, he did make a good point. The king was used to being obeyed, and if he felt Anna should come to him, she certainly wouldn't put such an event past him. And knowing Anna as well as she did, she knew that her daughter would choose to go with such men instead of putting her family at risk.

It would be worse if the truth broke her heart and she felt she had nowhere else to go...

“I think she'd stay, though. Or, well, she's likely to go off with her forester friend,” and he half-grinned. “Which I find it hard to protest. Love matches are way better than political ones.”

Sypha rolled her eyes tolerantly, then shook her head a little as he snickered slightly and kissed her temple.

“We just have to get through one more year,” she murmured softly. “One more, and then we can put this all behind us.”

-

Spring flowered with excruciating slowness; even on her birthday, Anna was disheartened to see a thin line of frost on her windowpanes, a cold chill tinging the air almost bitter, even as the snow had receded to thin wisps of nothing. Green things, reluctant to they were to show their faces, were starting to unfurl, and once the sun came _out_, it actually got quite warm in rapid order.

That didn't change the fact that nights were icy cold, and mornings frost bitten until the sun showed, and this day was no different.

She considered, heavily, laying in bed until the sun was up, and the frost spirals had left her window, especially since she doubted heavily that Adrian really would be there. Oh yes, he had promised... but it was a promise to _try_, not a promise for _certain._

Not to mention she still wasn't sure she had an answer for him. It scared her, thinking about what he'd asked, what he'd said. A lifetime with him... would it be nothing more than a blink _for_ him? He was only half-mortal, would he age at all as she did, or would he stay young and beautiful while she grew old and weary?

She could not, she had come to the reluctant conclusion of, promise him anything. She loved him, of that she was almost certain, but did she love him the right _way?_ What of the future, when her parents relaxed and finally told her this secret they'd been keeping, how would that change how she thought, felt, saw? She couldn't agree blindly, no matter how much she wanted too, and while her majority was now only a year away, there was still so much she didn't know.

But after several long minutes of wallowing in the unhappiness that decision gave her, she pushed back the blankets, shivering in the chill air. It was Adrian; he would _try_ to make it to the river, even if it neither really looked, nor felt, like spring. And maybe there was something she could find there too, that would ease the hurt that her response was going to cause both of them.

-

In retrospect, she was rather glad the river was still so chilled. The day had not started well, and after getting out of bed, things had only grown worse.

Her siblings, in their haphazard ways, had tried to be helpful. It was her birthday, so that meant her chores were less, because the other three took them on. Well, Marie had tried to go and collect the eggs, but the hens had been grumpy, and scratched her, so half the eggs had fallen to the floor, and the little girl had come crying into the kitchen. So Sypha had needed to stop preparing breakfast to take care of Marie, which meant Anna had to take over to make sure nothing burned or boiled over. Well, the twins had come running in, pulling a pail of milk between them, and not watching their feet. The milk had ended up on the floor, with the rest of the eggs, and Anna had been forced to pull her attention away from the food to make sure Gabriel hadn't actually broken his arm by fighting with Simon.

Which had lead to several parts of breakfast _and_ lunch being burned because then she'd had to make sure _Simon_ hadn't broken anything too.

Trevor chose to corral the twins and keep them out of the way, but nothing could move Marie from Sypha's leg once her scratches had been tended. So Anna had needed to wash and dry the dishes as well while Sypha washed the floor, and nearly tripped over her little sister several times, resulting in two smashed plates, and Anna herself with a few scratches on her hands from trying to pick up the shards and almost being pushed into them when Marie tried to give her an apology hug.

And since almost all of their extra dried foods had been eaten over the course of the long freeze, there wasn't much for Anna to stuff into a bag so she could _go_ on her long walk. Naturally the twins had seen her wearing her favorite skirt and asked if she was going to meet anyone. It was one thing to give _them_ dirty looks, it was another entirely to see the question echoed in her father's face and not be able to give a straight answer.

So she practically ran out of her own home, leaving her warm cloak behind. On this day, when the sun seemed more inclined to hide behind banks of clouds than come out and warm the earth, it was not the wisest of moves, and even walking didn't seem to be able to warm her. It certainly didn't help when she realized she could feel those watchful, _judging_ eyes of the strange faerie male on her. Try as she might, she couldn't figure out where he was watching her from, and thus her best idea was to simply run until she could no longer sense him.

Which was how she ended up getting tangled in a thorn bush, tearing her skirt, and scratching up her legs. While she did _lose_ him, she also lost bits of her flesh to the bush, as well as put some rents in her favorite skirt that she would have to patch up later.

“....I really ought to have just stayed in bed today,” she muttered, swishing her leg carefully in the cold water. “Pretended to sleep through the morning chaos, that would have been nice...”

After a moment she sighed and let the frustration go. What was the point in being upset? It wasn't Marie's fault she'd been scratched, it wasn't Simon's fault that Gabriel had been trying to show off, and it wasn't Gabriel's fault that Simon had been trying to make things easier only for that to backfire spectacularly.

Really, it was kind of nice, now that she was sitting down and able to soothe her injured legs with the cold river's rushing water. There were a few spring birds making themselves heard, and every now and then what brush there was would rustle as some forest creature moved through it unseen. A far cry from the bustle and madness of her home as she had left it...

Anna half-closed her eyes and let out a tired sigh, slowly pulling one leg out to examine it. She still bled sluggishly—those thorns had bit _deep—_but not so much that it would immediately show through some light bandaging.

She pulled her bag over to her and started rummaging in it for her basic tending kit. None of the scratches looks so bad that she would need more than just bandaging, at least. It was just... very _awkward_ to try and tend her legs herself. She couldn't see _all _of the scratches, and trying to twist her leg in impossible directions didn't seem to be helping.

“...Anna? What are you-”

That was the farthest Adrian got; she had been so focused on trying to bandage her leg that she had tuned out the noise of his approach, the very thing she shouldn't have done. He startled her badly enough that she shrieked in surprise and threw herself in the opposite direction of his voice.

In this case, right into the river.

The water had been cold enough when she had just been dangling her legs; a full immersion was _freezing. _She pushed herself up out of the water, and into a pair of warm hands that she immediately recognized, if shied away from on reflex.

Adrian caught her firmly but gently by the arms and pulled her up into his arms, cradling her as though she were a small child. He was also getting himself soaked in the process, but that didn't seem to bother him any as he waded back out of the water and gently deposited her onto dry land.

“....are you okay?” he asked, touching her face gently.

Soaking wet and heavily embarrassed, Anna couldn't look her friend in the face.

“Having a bad day?” And he touched her chin lightly, tipping her face up gently. “You look rather... worn...”

“S... sorry,” she mumbled, huddling in on herself as she shivers of cold hit her.

He tsked at her gently, then kissed her forehead.

“Well then, it's good I came laden down with gifts. Freely given,” he added when she looked up in a mix of surprised alarm. “No strings attached, I promise. But first, what _were_ you doing?”

“...I, ah... I ran into some thorns. I was... I was trying to tend my legs...”

He nodded a little and, to his credit, looked concerned more than amused.

“First, then, we must dry you off, and warm you up. Let me get a fire going... Here, put this on.”

He surprised her then by unhooking the long cloak he was wearing and draping it around her shoulders. It dragged on the ground, and immediately started soaking up the water.

“B-b-but-”

“No buts,” he said sternly. “You're very plainly having a bad day, so let me take care of you.”

She couldn't think of an argument for that; friends helped each other all the time, didn't they? He was being a good friend, wanting to help her not catch ill, even sacrificing his own cloak...

Uncertainly she let him push her gently around until he was sure she was situated properly, before he strode off into the forest. Before she could have time to grow anxious he was back with an armload of branches, twigs, and dry forest mast that he set up with a startlingly expert touch and lit with a gesture.

When he caught her staring in surprise, he grinned slightly.

“Mother insisted I learn all sorts of skills, not just those my father would teach. It wasn't necessarily easy to _acquire_ them, but I find they were well worth the effort, don't you?”

Anna just nodded meekly, trying to stifle her shivers. His cloak was absorbing the water, certainly, but that didn't necessarily mean she was _dry._

He unsaddled the horse, pulling the saddlebags that really seemed to be bulging over to the fire, and started to go through them. He pulled out several wrapped bundles, peered at one thoughtfully, then nodded and brought it over to her.

“It might be a bit big,” he said apologetically. “But my mother's about your height and build, maybe a couple inches taller, really. So I asked if she could... well, make something for you. I did my best to guess at what colors might suit you. Happy birthday?”

She blinked at him, then at the package. He was, she realized, blushing a little.

“....what's in the _other_ packages?” she asked after a long minute.

“Ah, well... I may have gone overboard? Making up for... last year, and the past couple Midwinters...”

Warmth blossomed from within, and she couldn't help but smile a little; he'd given her little gifts before, but... somehow, this felt more special. He had thought about her on Midwinter. He'd wanted to give her gifts.

She untied the string and unfolded the paper, then stared in surprise. The dress was all one piece, and looked like it was made to be easily slipped into and out of. The material was exceptionally soft, a deep summer green trimmed at the hem in a warm brown, and tingled a little under her fingertips as she tentatively touched it.

“Adrian, I.. it's too-”

“Please? At least until your clothes dry? You'll catch ill if you stay chilled, and even if it's a cold spring, it's still,” he looked at her a little pleadingly. “I don't want to miss out on seeing you if I can help it...”

The words, so carefully chosen, made her heart hurt. She wanted to kiss him; she needed to keep a clear head.

“...no peeking,” she said after a moment, very reluctantly.

The smile that crossed his face was just the slightest bit pained, but he nodded, and politely turned his back so that she could get out of the wet clothes, and into the soft gown.

It felt _awkward_ and uncomfortable to change out in the open like this, but there really wasn't much other choice, so she turned her back on him and stripped as quickly as she could, hissing a little as her legs protested the rapid movements.

The gown was as easy to get on as it looked, and after tying the front lacings, she took a moment to actually admire it. The only problem was that it was just the slightest bit too long; the sleeves went over her hands, and the skirt pooled slightly on the ground. But it was softer than anything she'd ever worn before, and even though her hair was dripping still down her back, the gown seemed to repel the water.

“...okay. I'm... I've changed,” she said, slowly turning around.

Adrian turned too, and for a moment the look on his face made her heart leap. She'd seen something similar on her father's face, when he was watching her mother do something. It didn't usually matter what; sometimes it had been when she was up to her elbows in flour, trying to make them dinner, or when she was reading a book. A look so soft, so fond...

She didn't stop to think, she just reached out a hand to him; he caught it up, and pulled her in, holding her close and kissing her softly. She kissed him back, curling her fingers in his shirt and holding on.

Maybe she was uncertain. Maybe she was afraid, because that look had said so much more than any words ever could. But with the forest and the sunlight as her witnesses, she felt certain that she was bound to him. Maybe the love would fade someday, maybe they would return to being just friends, but in this moment. _This moment_...

Yes. She loved him. She wanted nothing more than to be with him, and be loved _by_ him.

After a few moments he eased back, raising a hand to softly brush his fingers against her cheek. She leaned into the caress, then nuzzled softly at his palm.

“I missed you,” he murmured, pressing his cheek to her temple. “I missed you so much, Anna.”

“...missed you too,” she replied, nestling her head against his shoulder. He'd done something, some magic to dry his clothes, dry her hair so that she could lean on him like this and not worry about putting damp patches on his shirt. “Winter.... winter was really hard, and scary, a-and...”

She pressed her face lightly against his shirt as her breath caught. Gently he eased them both to the ground, pulling her into his lap with her back to the fire; one hand softly stroked her hair as she clung to him. Or maybe it was the feeling of safety he was giving her... whatever the reason, holding on to him, the story of the hard winter spilled out in something of a muddled jumble. The cold, the illness, the strange faerie man who scared her enough that she refused to speak more than necessary, the watching, _judging_ eyes that made her feel like she was something lesser, something ugly and worthless.

Adrian stayed silent the entire time, save a few murmurs of encouragement when she'd faltered. He just held her, let her get it all out until there was nothing left to say, then nuzzled at her temple softly.

“An eventful winter,” he said after a moment. “Will you let me tend to your legs? There's a salve in my bag that will make it so that no one ever knows you were hurt, and then we can have a good birthday lunch, and you can open the rest of your presents.”

She leaned back slightly, giving him a somewhat narrow stare.

“How much of those are presents for me?” she asked, tying to sound foreboding. It came out more fondly exasperated than she'd intended, and judging by his quick grin, he knew she wasn't actually annoyed.

“I told you I went overboard,” he replied, his smile turning hopeful. “I think you'll like most of it.”

“Adrian, I can't-”

He pouted at her, and she couldn't help but chuckle slightly, even as she gave him a small push.

“Stop that, that's cheating.”

Now _he_ chuckled, and nuzzled at her softly.

“You don't have to take everything,” he said gently. “I can keep it for... well, for when you think you're ready for it. But I'd like you to see it all, at least? If that's all right?”

“All right, all right, just... stop with the _face_,” and she giggled as he not only pouted, but gave it the exaggerated touch that told her he was only playing around. “That's _cheating_.”

He kissed her cheek, her nose, then her other cheek, making her giggle more. Feathery, light kisses that made no demands, asked no questions, rained down on her face until all she was feeling was safe, and loved.

“Well, I like cheating,” and Adrian lightly bumped his forehead against hers, his smile soft and warm, golden eyes filled with things she had no words to describe. “Especially if it makes you smile like this.”

“You,” and she hesitated. Would he understand without her having to say it so bluntly? Then she mustered up her courage; she didn't know how she looked to him, and she probably never would, but they had the moment, and she wasn't going to waste it if she could help it. “You, my love, are _ridiculous_.”

The way his face lit up made her heart sing. The kiss he pressed on her was soft and warm, the arms around her gentle and secure. She let her eyes close, let the warmth surround her as she kissed him back.

-

He tended to her legs gently, the thick salve absorbing into her skin quickly; to her fascinated gaze, the scratches began pulling together immediately, leaving no trace of her injury behind. It was enough to distract her from the warmth of his hands, and the fact that she'd had to pull the skirt of the new gown up over her knees so that he _could_ tend the injuries.

“My mother made this,” he said after a long moment, a fond smile on his face. “Though I think father had someone put an enhancement charm on it that makes it work this fast.... I do think you'd like her, she's as good with plants as you are.”

“Probably better, since she's older,” Anna said with a small, teasing smile. “I'm still learning.”

He glanced up at her and smiled back, a warm light making his eyes softer.

“Well, yes, but you're still quite good,” he pointed out. “Very woods wise you are, my light.”

The nickname made her blush a little; he'd started using it for no real reason she had been able to understand last year, but now it was... softer. Warmer. Without saying the words, they had come to an understanding.

He looked, for a moment, like he was contemplating something mischievous, but only turned and found the salve's cover, allowing her to flip the skirt back down. It was a little funny to be wearing something that was actually too long; she wasn't sure if she felt elegant or ridiculous.

“So, ready to see what else I brought for you?~” he asked, moving to sit beside her and curling his arm around her waist.

“...I am almost afraid to find out,” she muttered, leaning her head against his shoulder.

He chuckled softly, and kissed her forehead.

“Well, I brought food, which might improve your mood?” he offered. “You certainly haven't had the best day. Share with me?”

“...I'd like that.”

-

“...you know me coming home with all of this is going to have my parents asking questions, right?” Anna asked, half-smiling even as she leaned drowsily against Adrian. “Especially _this_.”

'This' was a simple gold ring on a chain, etched with vines and flowers. The leaves were a deep green stone that he'd called an emerald, and they were carved as well, with tiny veins like real leaves. The flowers were small chips of sapphire; both flowers and leaves were just slightly raised from the gold. Not enough that they would scrape or rub, but enough to be noticeable if worn.

As for the rest of it... simple, if slightly too large gowns in various forest browns and greens, several pairs of gloves clearly meant for someone of a much higher station than her, another necklace with a pendant that was a flower she didn't recognize that glowed softly, even in the sunlight that had finally deigned to creep through the high clouds, several simple gold bracelets, and one delicate sort of chain circlet that had little gems dangling from it.

“I don't mind holding most of it until I can meet them formally,” he said with a small smile, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Though if you could keep the ring, it would... ease my mind some. It's more than just a promise...”

“Is it?” She looked at the band curiously.

“Mmhm,” and he pointed at the small leaves. “If you're ever in distress, if you press these two at the same time, I'll be alerted. It may not be an _immediate_ rescue,” and he smiled ruefully, “I cannot teleport, but as long as you have the ring on you, I will be able to find you.”

“So, save it for a true emergency,” and she nodded a little.

He nuzzled at her gently, then pointed to the flowers.

“If you press on the petals, I'll know you miss me,” he murmured.

“...how?”

In response, he fished under his shirt, pulling out a small pendant. It wasn't terribly elaborate, just a small round of gold that had a simple flower engraved in it, with emeralds and sapphires like the ring.

“Press,” he invited.

Curious, she did, and watched in surprise as the petals of the flower on his pendant began to glow softly, pulsing as if in time with her heartbeat. When she released the flowers, the glow faded out, and he tucked it back under his shirt.

“We can't be _always_ together, if for no other reason than we'll probably have moments where we don't want to be close,” and he gave her a crooked smile. “I don't expect this to be simple or easy, no matter how it feels right now, my light. And there will be... people who want to hurt you.”

“...because you chose me,” she said softly.

Adrian's smile, his eyes, were soft and warm, full of an emotion she couldn't name that made her a little afraid of how intense it was. But at the same time, his regard was so soft, so comforting that when he kissed her, she kissed back, wanting nothing more than to stop time and let the moment continue for as long as possible.

It couldn't of course, last forever.

“Yes,” he said, pressing his forehead gently against hers. “Because I chose you. This makes sure that I can leave you alone, and still know roughly how you're doing. I'd make you a speaking mirror, but... well, I don't think your mother's wards would allow for that, and I don't want you to have to sneak out every time you want to talk to me.”

Anna had to smile ruefully, and nuzzled at him softly.

“That would certainly raise more suspicions than this,” she said dryly, teasing him gently as she turned the ring lightly in her fingers. “_Maybe_.”

He chuckled, and kissed her nose, making her giggle and give him a small push.

“The point being, now I'll know how much you think about me,” he teased back, briefly tightening his hold on her in a comforting squeeze. “It works in reverse too. Well, the flowers do....”

“Only the flowers?” and she lifted her head slightly, stung. “I know how to fight, Adrian.”

“I'm not saying you don't,” and he raised his hands slightly, his tone soothing. “And I would trust you at my back. I just... I don't want you to feel like you _need_ to. That's all.”

_Fighting is messy, Sprout,_ her father had said. _I don't want you to need these skills, but I'm smart enough to teach them to you because I can't always protect you_.

“...but if it's for you...”

Anna's voice faltered. She'd never actually fought anyone; there had never been anything or anyone _too_ fight here in the forest. Maybe that strange faerie male, but...

He pulled her close, hugging her softly.

“I know you would,” and his breath was warm against her ear. “I'm fairly sure you could be fierce and frightening if you were put to the test. I don't want you to _be_ put to the test. And it's... just a precaution. I don't think anything will come at you here. I'm just... paranoid. Especially after what you've said about your unwelcome watcher.”

She couldn't argue with that, and after a moment he eased back, one hand stroking softly along her jaw.

“I can fix it later,” he offered gently. “But... for a little while, humor me?”

“...how long is a little while?”

“Until I meet your parents. When _can_ I do that?”

Anna blinked. She hadn't actually considered that question; up until now, keeping him secret had been a way to guarantee that she could keep seeing him, but...

“...it would be good for them to know you and not just have it be a surprise,” she said after a long moment. “You... I don't know. We could go now?”

Now it was _his_ turn to be surprised, and he leaned back slightly. After a moment, Anna giggled.

“Then you'd _have_ to fix the ring,” she teased.

After a moment he chuckled, and kissed her forehead.

“Sometimes, you are too clever for me, my light,” he teased gently. “Perhaps a fortnight? So they're not surprised, and I have time to, ah... prepare and be presentable.”

She turned the idea over in her mind, then nodded a little; it made her _nervous_, but surely they couldn't protest this...

Could they?

-

“So you've been meeting a _half faerie prince_ for the past two years?”

Anna squirmed in her seat, looking down at her lap; the mild voice coming from her father was honestly more unnerving than if he'd just shouted.

“Yes,” she said, her voice tiny.

Trevor looked at Sypha. Sypha looked at Trevor.

Trevor burst out laughing so hard he almost fell over.

Anna jumped, then stared with wide eyes as her father found a chair and fell into it, still laughing. Sypha pressed a hand to her face, and sighed in pure exasperation.

“Trevor, it's not _that_ funny,” she said, glaring at her husband.

He just waved a hand weakly, clutching some at the chair. He looked ready to laugh himself _out_ of it, really...

Sypha shook her head a little and briefly pinched the bridge of her nose, muttering something under her breath that sounded impolite to her teenage daughter.

“....he's polite?” she asked, making Anna jump.

“...Yes?” Anna offered hesitantly. “He's... he's very kind. Sometimes he's... difficult, but he's never been deliberately mean, or rude. I...” she looked down at her hands, and let out a small breath. “I feel... _safe_ when I spend time with him. Like I feel when I'm here, behind the wards, but... stronger.”

It wasn't the right way to say it, but she didn't have the _words_ for the right way to say it. And admittedly, she worried that if she admitted that she was in love with him, as much as she could be, they would forbid her to see him. Much as she loved her parents, she wouldn't stop seeing Adrian.

Sypha's hands covered hers, making Anna look up in surprise; the sorceress looked resigned more than anything else, but she kissed Anna's forehead after a moment, then sighed.

“A fortnight?”

Anna nodded meekly.

Trevor, still snickering, stepped up and slung an arm around Sypha's shoulders.

“I'll make some adjustments to the wards so he can come through,” she said, elbowing her husband gently. “There are some things that we'll need to discuss as well...”

It wasn't comforting to hear, but at least she wasn't being told she wasn't allowed to see him as she'd worried.

“We being us,” she asked tentatively, “or you two and him?”

“That-”

“Is complicated,” Trevor interrupted. He was still grinning a little, but his tone was _mostly_ sober. “For now, just... us and him.”

Sypha looked a bit mutinous, but didn't contradict him; oddly, it didn't entirely reassure Anna, who eyed bother her parents uncertainly. There was still a secret they hadn't shared, something _about her_ that they knew.

But did _she_ want to know?

“...okay.”

“Midafternoon,” Sypha said firmly. “Or as close to it as the pair of you can manage.”

Anna nodded, and tried to ignore a sudden feeling of inevitability; something had just changed, something she could never step away from. Now if only she knew _what_, that would be wonderful...

-

“It really wasn't that funny, Trevor,” Sypha said after Anna's bedroom door had closed.

“It really _was_,” he retorted, and snickered again. “Here we are, worrying about it being some forester, and it's _that_ princeling! He promised to fix things when he was a child, and even though _neither_ of them know it, he's in position to do _just_ that if everything falls apart. I don't think it could _get_ much more perfect.”

“Or much more _dangerous_,” Sypha pointed out. “There's a year left, you know. A _year_. And what happens after that? She's going to have to face this sooner or later, and being _that_ close to a faerie...”

Trevor sobered, and put his arms around Sypha, hugging her gently.

“Hey,” he said softly. “You remember the little prince, yeah? He said he'd fix it. And from what Anna told us, he's trying to find her so that he _can_. He just doesn't know that he already _has_.”

“We... what should we say?” Sypha asked, looking up at him.

“He can probably guard his mind better than even these charms, so I think we should tell him the truth,” Trevor said after a thoughtful moment. “It lets him relax, and he _sounds_ clever enough to avoid telling Anna more than she needs to know at the moment. And frankly, it solves a lot of problems that it _is_ him; who in their right mind is going to protest her picking him as her spouse, if that's what ends up happening?”

“What do you mean 'if'?” Sypha asked dryly. “It looked more like a 'when' to me.”

Trevor shrugged lightly, and hugged her fondly.

“Well, maybe. But you know her. She likes to examine a thing from as many angles as possible. Pretty sure she got that from you~”

Sypha snorted a little, and elbowed him gently. He grinned slightly and kissed her briefly.

“She's growing up,” he reminded her. “She's not... she's not our little girl any more, who plays in mud puddles and hides in the hay. She could be a queen someday, if she really wanted to. She wouldn't be _happy_ with it, no, but she _could_. Can we really stand between her and him?”

She sighed, and rested her head against his chest.

“No, I suppose not. But until her next birthday passes without incident, I suppose I'm just going to keep worrying about things.”

“Yeah, well,” Trevor smiled wryly. “So am I. But having someone else to watch out for her... that will be nice.”

-

“You're nervous,” Anna said after a moment, twining her fingers with Adrian's as they walked.

“...yes, well,” and he gave her a rueful half-smile. “Naturally. I know magic, but that doesn't mean meeting your parents will go _well_, my light. And knowing they wish to speak private is a bit... daunting.”

She leaned her head gently against his shoulder, half-closing her eyes.

“I wish I knew what they wanted to talk to you _about_,” she said after a moment. “Will you tell me?”

“If I can,” he said, tipping his head slightly. “I don't particularly like the thought of keeping secrets... Though I may pass if it's just a pile of threats.”

Despite herself, Anna giggled.

“Dad might, but not Ma. Ma doesn't bother with threats~”

He snorted a little, and gently bumped her shoulder with his, making her giggle again.

“Aren't you supposed to be reassuring me?” he asked, mock plaintively. “You're not being very reassuring.”

Now she laughed, if softly, leaning against him a bit more as they walked; when he shifted his arm slightly, she took the invitation and ducked under, curling her arm around his waist as his draped over her shoulders.

“I'm sure it will be all right,” she said with a soft smile up at him. “Truly. My brothers my pester, my sister may stare, but I think everything will be fine.”

He leaned in and kissed her temple, the hand on her shoulder squeezing lightly.

“Well, you would be able to guess best, so I bow to your superior wisdom.”

Anna scoffed gently, reaching up with her free hand to wrap her fingers around his again. The warmth of him was welcome; spring was still cold, winter still not quite ready to let go of the hold it had on the land.

“I'm not wise.”

Lightly he tapped her nose, making her squeak, then smiled when she pouted up at him.

“In the matters of your family, you are,” he said, and though his smile carried a hint of teasing, his words were serious. “Believe me, Anna, I want to make no missteps here that would.... require a choice.”

There was something about the way he said it that make her feel momentarily uneasy, but then he kissed her temple, and the feeling was gone.

“Besides, I've never had siblings. It will be a novel experience.”

_That_ made her laugh.

-

Sypha closed the study door behind them, and raised the eavesdropping wards before truly taking in the young faerie prince her daughter had brought home to meet them.

Adrian had moved to stand before the fireplace, not bothering to hide the admiring gaze he was casting about the room. He was taller than Trevor—who was leaning on the nearby wall, staring at him with narrowed eyes—if only by a few inches, and built slender. Even looking directly at him, it was hard to see the faerie blood...

“...stop that,” she said after a minute, frowning. “Anna told us who you are, so you don't need to bother with hiding.”

Adrian blinked, then looked a bit sheepish, and there was a sense of something releasing. _Now_ the faerie shone through, the otherworldly beauty that inspired desire and despair in equal measure. The golden hair seemed to glow like a faint ray of sunlight, and his eyes did the same, going from a tawny brown to a soft amber.

“My apologies, lady sorceress, sir knight,” and he bowed politely. “I usually elect to... tone down while on my search. It prevents issues.”

“Sensible,” Trevor drawled, though he remained leaning against the wall. “What part of your search brought you to the forest?”

“The one that wanted a break,” Adrian replied evenly. “Searching your cities and towns for a girl I promised to help, trying to _play_ human just long enough to see if she's there, is wearying. If you're implying that I came for nefarious purposes, Sir, it was _Anna_ who spoke to _me_.”

Trevor pushed off the wall, arms folded across his chest. Sypha sighed and frowned at her husband.

“What we have to say goes no farther than this room,” she said quietly, the tone of voice pulling Adrian's attention to her. “Not to Anna, or anyone you might share this with.”

Those sharply angled eyebrows rose slightly, then his eyes narrowed.

“And why not?”

“Because we're still trying to protect her. One more year, princeling, and then she's safe from her curse,” Trevor said bluntly. “The only reason _you_ get to know is because you can guard your thoughts better than humans can against others of your kind.”

Adrian blinked once. Twice.

And then chuckled slightly. There was something almost _bitter_ in the sound, and Sypha winced a little to hear it.

“Of course....”

After a moment he shook his head slightly, and his expression shuttered into cool politeness.

“Am I then, to be told to stay away?”

“Ye-”

_“No_,” And Sypha scowled at Trevor.

Again those blond brows rose slightly, the only change to the polite veneer.

“No?”

“No,” she repeated firmly. “We'd have no way to enforce it, for one thing; you meet in the forest, and like it or not, Anna is most at home out there. Trevor is just... protective.”

“....doesn't like faeries, you mean.”

“No, I don't,” Trevor said shortly. “I think it was a mistake to invite either side to her naming ceremony, and considering what _happened_, and the fact that we've been out here for almost eighteen years....”

After a moment, he sighed.

“But I remember you at that ceremony, promising to fix things. So while I don't necessarily _like_ you, I'm willing to tolerate you. But be aware that even though we share no blood, she's _our_ daughter, and intentionally harming her won't be allowed.”

Adrian inclined his head slightly, and Trevor resumed leaning against the wall.

“So she has no idea?” he asked quietly.

“No. Not... not yet,” Sypha admitted. “She knows she's different in some way, and that's on us as her guardians, but when we try to tell her, something... always seems to interfere. At this point, it seems safer to wait until after her next birthday...”

“Or not tell her at all?”

“She needs to know,” Trevor said pointedly. “If only so that she can decide if she wants to take up royal duties, or abdicate entirely. But...” and he grimaced slightly, “the things she'd need to learn to be a proper ruler weren't anything we could teach. We _still_ can't teach those. And frankly, she'd probably be happier living in the forest and being a medicine maker.”

“And you want me to not tell her?”

Ice in his tone; not threat, but not welcoming either.

“...not yet.” Sypha was quiet for several minutes. “You can guard your mind, guard your thoughts, against the intrusions of other beings. We have charms that help us do the same, to keep this knowledge secret. We've been hiding here since she was given to us to _protect_ her. We don't have more charms, we can neither buy, nor make them.... and...”

“She knows she's different,” Trevor said quietly when Sypha faltered. “She knows it, even if she won't admit to it. It's our fault, and yet she still calls us Ma and Dad, still chooses to believe that she's our child. If we tell her the truth now, _before_ the danger has passed...”

Adrian grimaced a little in understanding, cracking the veneer of politeness.

“She'll wonder how much of her life was truth and how much was a lie,” he said quietly. “And then remove herself so that the people she loves aren't in any danger, putting herself directly in Carmilla's path if necessary.”

“You _do_ know our daughter.”

For a half-second there was something approaching a smile on Adrian's face at Trevor's dry quip.

“I don't enjoy keeping secrets from her, but I find myself agreeing,” and now he sighed. “And now that there's only a year left, Carmilla's search will intensify. I don't know that a death curse will rebound fatally onto her; she's... in my father's words, annoyingly canny with many exit strategies. But even if she avoids dying, the power invested in the curse will likely hit her hard enough to leave her vulnerable, and she'll be looking for a way to avoid that.” His smile was thin and humorless. “My father certainly would try to take advantage of it, despite what Mother would want.”

Sypha hesitated, then reached over and laid her hand on his arm. Startled, he looked down at her, then flushed slightly, looking away.

“I want to protect her,” he said quietly. “Ever since we met, that's all I wanted to do. So yes, I'll keep this secret until her next birthday, but after that, I promise nothing.”

Sypha sighed a little, nodding.

“Thank you,” she said gently. “It's... it's good to know that she's not misplaced her trust.”

“...along that vein, _did_ she tell you that I... mm... asked for her hand?”

Trevor made a startled noise, straightening abruptly.

“You did _what?_”

“No, she never mentioned that,” Sypha said, startled by the admission. “Why are _you_?”

The ice melted; his eyes glowed faintly with humor and warmth.

“Well, I had _planned_ to ask your permission to formally court her, since you are her parents, and that is keeping with human standards.”

“You wanted to ask permission from us, having _already_ asked her?” Trevor said skeptically.

“It's a human formality, is it not? To ask the parents or guardians for their permission?”

Sypha gave him a narrow-eyed stare, and saw a glitter of what looked like mischief in those amber eyes.

“And you would have accepted a no?” she asked suspiciously. “No, we don't want you courting Anna, no we don't think you're a suitable partner for her...”

“Oh, of course not,” and now he smirked. “But I would observe all of the formalities, and then let Anna decide.”

Trevor snorted a little.

“Well aren't you a mean-hearted bastard,” he said dryly. “Lucky for all of us, we're stuck between a rock and a hard place and can't exactly _refuse_.”

“...and if the worst happens, do you love her?” Sypha asked.

“Of course I do. But she raised an interesting point when I told her about what happened at the naming ceremony.”

“What point?” Trevor asked.

Adrian looked almost pensive for a moment, then lightly shrugged.

“What even _is_ the definition of true love?” he asked. “Is true love romantic? Is it familial? Is it the love of a true and trusted friend?”

Sypha and Trevor both blinked, then looked at one another.

“I never thought of it that way,” Sypha said slowly.

“I don't think anyone did,” And Trevor frowned slightly. “The king was so anxious to send her away into hiding after talking to that one faerie, I doubt he or the queen would have even considered more than one interpretation.”

“And we've been so concerned with keeping the curse from _happening_ that we never thought about it either,” Sypha said, chagrined.

“That said, who knows how widespread the sleep part of it would be,” and Adrian shook his head slightly. “My father does have enough power to put the whole kingdom to sleep, but I suspect he'd confine it to the main palace.”

“Which would leave everywhere else open for annexation and attacks,” Trevor frowned a little.

Adrian shrugged lightly in agreement.

“He never promised not to do those things, and Carmilla would be quick to take advantage of it as well. It may well be that Carmilla manipulated events to turn out that way, just so that she _could_ throw her armies at my father's without a care for the humans between. And much good as my mother's influence has been, my father _would_ retaliate with about the same amount of thought.”

Both humans grimaced, sharing a look.

“Does the king suspect?” Trevor asked.

“I don't know. I've stayed away from the main city and the palace there,” Adrian replied with a small shrug. “It seemed too point blank to simply take the princess into the city and raise her with one of the noble families there. What rumors I hear... well, they never pointed me at whom I sought, and I disregarded anything else.”

“Would warning him even serve a purpose?” Sypha asked before Trevor could even make the suggestion. “A year to prepare for a worst-case scenario isn't a lot of time.”

“It's better than nothing,” Trevor replied. “I'll get a message to the lodge; whether or not anything is done about it is up to his majesty at that point.”

-

What, Anna wondered as Adrian bid her parents a polite farewell, had the talked about? He seemed at once both lighter and yet also weighed down. He had stayed several hours, putting up with a million questions from her brothers, the silent staring of her sister, never once raising his voice or showing impatience. Always _polite,_ if not deferential.

“Anna? A moment?”

She looked at her parents, who nodded, then moved closer to Adrian, who smiled at her softly. Something _lurked_ at the back of his eyes, something that made her suddenly uneasy. Something _was_ wrong, but she was being kept in the dark again.

This time, by him.

His hand came up and touched her cheek softly, almost apologetically.

“It's all right my light,” he said softly. “I can't tell you yet, but I promise, next year, you'll know everything.”

“You promise?”

He kissed her softly, arms wrapping around her like he never wanted to let her go. When he pulled back, it was just enough to press his forehead to hers.

“I promise. If they don't tel you, I will. But for now... for now, let us all continue to protect you. Just a little longer.”

Anna shifted, and pressed her face against his neck as she curled her fingers in his coat. She was getting _tired_ of being protected, but... an end date. Next year, after she was eighteen, she'd know the secrets, know the truth.

“Okay.... Because you asked so nicely and all...”

She felt more then heard his laugh, and he pressed his cheek lightly against her hair.

“So, this means you'll fix my ring now, doesn't it?” she asked after a moment, keeping her tone light.

“Of course you wouldn't forget that,” and his voice was full of fond amusement. “Well, I have met your parents, so I suppose I should hold up my end of the deal. It'll take a few days, though...”

He pulled back slightly, and she reached up to touch the ring that lay against her skin, under her clothes. She'd had it less than two weeks, but it was already so familiar that she didn't want to take it off.

But it would be fixed; it would tell her if he was in trouble and needed her. Maybe she would never need it, would never know, but at least it would _work_, and that would make her feel a little better.

Reluctantly, she unhooked the chain from her neck, and handed it to him. He smiled faintly and kissed her forehead.

“I'd give you something else as a promise, but I'm quite sure your mother would try to light me on fire if I did it here,” he murmured. “Three days. Five at the most. Meet in the usual place?~”

“As if there's anywhere else _to_ meet?”

He chuckled and kissed her again, soft and sweet. It didn't feel long enough when he pulled back, then pressed a far more chaste kiss to her forehead.

“I can think of some places, but I really do think your parents might try to throw something at me if I linger much longer.”

His half-smile was fond, and loving.... she didn't _want_ to let go, but she was fairly certain that she wasn't going to be allowed to leave at sundown with her prince for one small walk, so reluctantly, she released his jacket and stepped away.

“It won't be long, my light. You'll see.”

-

“Dad, I promise, I don't need an escort,” Anna said patiently as Trevor followed her down the path she liked to take to the river. “I make this walk practically every day.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Da-ad,” and Anna rolled her eyes tolerantly. “I am perfectly capable of looking after myself, and I'm just going to meet Adrian. I even promised Ma we'd come back for supper.”

Trevor just made a noise of agreement, and kept following.

She rolled her eyes again and stopped, turning to face him.

“You didn't have this much trouble letting me go alone when you _didn't_ know who I was meeting,” she pointed out, hands on her hips. “Nothing's going to happen! Now go away!”

Trevor blinked at her, then grinned.

“Nah, I think I'll keep tagging along today, Sprout, just for my own peace of mind.”

“Da-ad...”

Now she pouted. Much as she loved her father, loved spending time with him, she wanted her space _from_ him too. She wanted to meet with Adrian and not feel self-conscious about it, or have to watch her words because her father was right there.

“I'll tell Ma that you were being a busybody.”

“Your Ma knows perfectly well that I'm a busybody when it comes to our children,” he replied. “I dare say she'd encourage it.”

Anna crossed her arms and frowned up at him.

“Well I don't. Go _home_, Dad, or go off hunting like you said you were going to. I don't need to be followed like I'm five and going to... to climb the nearest pine tree that I can't get down from.”

He chuckled a little, looking up at the trees around them.

“You always wanted to go up, and then could never get back down...”

“Didn't Ma yell at you for _encouraging_ that?”

He at least had the grace to look a bit sheepish.

“Anna...”

“Dad, I'll be fine,” and she laid a hand on his arm, smiling fondly. “Really, I will. I'm safe with Adrian, and you'll see us both at supper. Now go away. _That_ way.”

And she pointed in a direction that would take her father off her path and away from the river. Trevor snorted a little, shook his head, then leaned in and kissed the top of her head, before gently ruffling her hair.

“You're always going to be my Sprout, you know that, right?”

She hugged him fondly.

“Yes Dad, I know. I love you too. Now please go away?”

He laughed.

“Well, since you're asking so nicely~”

Anna stood there and watched as he finally ambled off; part of her suspected he'd show up at the river regardless, just to make sure she really _was_ safe, but she hadn't exactly planned on staying there after meeting up with Adrian anyways. While marginally warmer now, there were a number of plants she wanted to try and get her hands on before it was time to head back to the house, and Adrian was always good for carrying things, as well as conversation.

Once her father was out of sight, she continued on her way, letting out a small breath. He was being protective, but sometimes he did take it a bit too far. She didn't need to be watched so closely, after all. This part of the forest was perfectly safe as long as she kept her wits about her.

And it was nice to walk it and see that it was going green, if still slowly. The cold receded a bit more each day, at least, though it was certainly looking to remain chilly for the whole of the season. She made herself keep to a sedate pace, to take in the slowly blossoming colors as flowers carefully unfurled to a sun that touched them less this year than the others.

When she reached the river, Adrian was there already, lazing comfortably on a blanket with the horse tethered nearby. When he saw her, he quickly got to his feet, smiling warmly, and held out his hand. Nothing loathe, Anna quickened her steps until she could toss her arms around his neck and be enclosed in the warmth and safety of his embrace. He chuckled slightly and lifted her off her feet, swinging her briefly around. She squeaked a little, then laughed, tightening her grip slightly.

He set her lightly on her feet, then tipped her head up and kissed her softly. As ever, she melted into the sensation of his mouth on hers, and the warmth that blossomed in her chest. When he pulled back slightly, she stifled her disappointment, then snugged her head against his chest.

“...Missed me?” he asked. His tone was warm, gently teasing, and when she looked up into his face, his eyes seemed to be glowing softly.

“I did,” she replied promptly, curling her fingers in his coat. “I always miss you when you're away.”

“I missed you too. I think I drove my father half-mad with my mooning about.”

Gently she pushed him, though not enough to make him let her go.

“You did not,” she protested gently.

“I did,” and he nuzzled at her temple, planting a kiss on her forehead. “I think he threatened to throw me in the moat at _least_ half a dozen times. If I had stayed home today, he probably would have done it, despite my mother telling him not to.”

That made her giggle, and she snuggled against him a bit more. Admittedly, it was _hard_ to picture Adrian mooning about; he was always so focused when they were together, usually on her...

“As promised, my light, one ring, fixed up the way you requested.”

From his pocket he removed the necklace and ring, dropping the chain over her head. Anna squeaked a little, then pulled her braids free carefully until the chain was settled on her skin, the ring level with her heart.

“Though I much doubt either one of us will need to use it,” he added as she admired the ring anew. “Your mother's wards are alarmingly strong; I certainly would not want to be on her bad side if it came to a fight.”

“No, probably not,” Anna agreed, tucking the ring under her shirt. “Dad always says in a fight, he wants her on _his_ side. Mostly because he can't do magic worth anything. He's brilliant with his weapons though.”

“So you've said,” Adrian smiled a little, and gently coaxed her down until they were both sitting on the blanket. “You think I can avoid him challenging me to a mock-duel when it comes time to properly propose?”

Anna blushed a little, tucking her head against his shoulder as his arm slipped around her waist.

“Maybe? I don't know, Dad's... he's been more protective than usual these past few days. I think he meant to follow me all the way here, but I managed to chase him off,” and she sighed a little in resigned amusement. “Oh, and Ma says you're invited to come for supper. I think she likes you.”

There was, for a flash of a moment, an odd little smile on his face. It was gone so quickly that she had to wonder if she'd seen it at all, or if her mind had just made it up, for his smile was pleased and warm.

“I'd be glad to come tonight. What were your plans for today?”

“Seeing what there is to gather,” she replied, filing the moment away to think about later. “Possibly avoiding Dad. He _said_ he was going to do some hunting, but...”

“Well, I suppose putting a face to what was previously not really acknowledged has made him more worried,” Adrian said after a thoughtful moment.

“I guess,” Anna replied doubtfully. “But I'd really rather he not fuss. I'm safe with you.”

“...yes...” and his voice was softer, warmer. “Yes you are, my light.”

-

They ended up in a clearing that was half-surrounded by prickly holly bushes, their deep green leaves forming a comfortable screen between them and the rest of the forest. Anna carefully dug up some roots unrelated to the bushes, gently tucking them into the basket she'd brought along for this express purpose, then felt lightly around the trees for any viable leaves or sprouts that might be useful.

Every now and again she'd glance up and smile shyly; Adrian watched her with undisguised fondness, though he kept himself and his hands clear of what she was doing. He'd learned quickly that if she needed help, she'd ask for it, but when she didn't, it was best to let her be.

So he stood back with the horse, who occasionally stamped restively.

“She doesn't much like holly, does she?” Anna asked as she dusted her hands off.

“She's tired of the ground being made of mud and ice,” he replied with a chuckle. “She's also tired of being in the forest, if I'm being honest. She wants wide open plains to run around in; I may have to ride someone else for a few days who's not quite as impatient.”

The horse snorted at him, he snorted back, and Anna giggled.

“Was your winter any better than ours?” she asked.

“Some. We didn't get the bitter cold, but we had a good pile of snow dropped on us,” he replied as she stretched up to get at some low, green branches. “Magic makes it easier to dig yourself out, but it doesn't make the snow vanish.”

“...but you can walk on it, can't you?”

The branch was _just _out of reach...

“Well, my kin can. Mother can't, and while I could if I wanted to waste the magic, it's just easier to sink into the stuff. Do you need help?”

“...I might,” and she huffed up at the branch. “Can you bend it down to me?”

He nodded and stepped over, reaching up to gently pull the branch down within reach. Quickly, she snipped what she wanted from it, letting twigs and leaves fall into the basket, then nodded and stepped back as he released the branch.

“Any others?”

She looked up at the tree thoughtfully, then shook her head. His arm slipped lightly around her waist, tugging her close and she was quite happy to curl into his hold; the sun was struggling to emerge again, and he was _warm_.

They stood there for a long moment as the forest moved around them, her head tucked against his shoulder, his cheek resting softly on her head.

“Anna...?”

“Hm?”

“....I think I would very much like to do more than just kiss you,” he said after a long moment. “Would you.... be inclined to object?”

For a moment, her heart stuttered; delicate phrasing aside, she had the sense that she knew exactly what he meant. Her mother had been very matter-of-fact about the whole thing when she'd first started her bleeding times, from anatomy to prevention of pregnancies. It had been horribly embarrassing _at_ the time, but the lessons had stuck, even if there had been no real reason for them to be given.

After all, when the only males around are one's father and brothers...

“...I don't know,” she admitted hesitantly. “I... I think I'd like to... to do that with you, just... I don't know...”

He nuzzled at her softly, his breath warm on her skin.

“It's all right if you don't feel ready,” he murmured, “I don't want you to be uncomfortable. I just wanted you to know that when you're ready for more, I'm here.”

“....you know, the _last_ time you said that, it was the start of winter and I didn't see you for endless months,” she grumbled a little, curling her arms around his waist. “You're not planning on vanishing on me for weeks, are you?”

He laughed softly, and squeezed gently.

“No, my love, no. I wouldn't do that. I just.... _want_ you. In every conceivable way,” and he nuzzled the top of her head, planting a kiss in her hair. “But I can wait for you to be ready too.”

If it was a question of ready, she was actually fairly sure she was. The idea was a little unnerving, but mostly, it was thrilling; to be his lover was something she had been heartily curious about since she'd decided to accept his proposal.

“Did... I mean... here? N... now?”

He nuzzled at her gently, feathering a kiss to her temple this time.

“Whenever, wherever you would like,” he replied. “From a blanket on the floor of the forest, to a proper bed; as long as you're comfortable, as long as it's what _you_ want...”

“But what about what _you_ want?”

The kiss landed on her nose, and she squeaked a little.

“I want you happy and comfortable,” he replied, nuzzling at her gently. “If it means I have to wait, then I can do that.” His smile turned a bit impish, and he kissed her mouth briefly. “Gives me time to think up all sorts of things~”

A thrill ran up her spine, but even as it did, she giggled; true, it was _meant_ lasciviously, but the way he said it sounded more like gentle teasing. He grinned and kissed her nose again, cuddling her gently.

“I just want you _aware_ of the idea,” he finished, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. “So that when you think you're ready, you can tell me, and not feel too.... nervous about it.”

Anna nodded a little, and leaned against him comfortably.

“...not.... _now_,” she said finally. “Not with Dad stealthing about the forest. Knowing _my_ luck, that would end.... well, embarrassing at the very least.”

Adrian snorted a little, giving her a small squeeze.

“That's fair enough. I'm not sure your father would let me walk away with all the important bits attached if he caught us,” he said ruefully. “Which also puts... after supper out of the question as well, doesn't it?”

Anna tipped her head slightly, considering the idea. Adrian in her room, in her bed? A flush rose to her cheeks, and she felt her heart jump into her throat. A soft, subtle _wanting_ rose in her that she firmly pushed back down; she had to think beyond desire, decide if this really _was_ what she wanted.

“I don't.... know,” she said finally. “If they agreed to put you up for the night, we could.... well, we could be circumspect, or not...”

She felt him go still and looked up uncertainly. Surprise was on his face, and he wasn't bothering to hide it.

“Being _bold_, my light?” he asked after a moment.

“Well... they _do_ already know I agreed to... to be your betrothed,” and that made her blush more, even as a smile crossed his face, warm and soft. “It probably wouldn't shock them any... Ma, at least, has always been very... up front about it. If she _doesn't_ have an anti-pregnancy charm just waiting for me I'll... I'll eat my boots.”

He laughed, then surprised her by picking her up and swinging her around briefly. She squeaked and clung to him, then melted against him as he pressed his mouth to hers once more.

“You,” he said, pulling back enough to smile down at her, “are a constant surprise. Did you know that?”

“Is that a compliment or a complaint?” she asked, dazed.

“Compliment, my light,” and he nuzzled at her softly. “I have no plans for the moment, I would be quite... _willing_ to stay at your family home if you truly think your parents would not object too strenuously.”

“You... would stay? Truly?”

He feathered kisses onto her face, then a longer, more passionate one to her mouth that left her breathless.

“If you wish it of me, I'll stay as long as you want,” he murmured.

Then he startled her by nipping at her earlobe. She squeaked and clutched at him, a shiver running down her spine. His mouth moved down, just slightly, a kiss gracing the side of her neck.

This she was at least somewhat familiar with, even as it made her catch her breath and cant her head. He had a fondness for kissing any available skin... which usually meant her neck, if he was feeling particularly playful.

He gently nipped, and she shivered slightly, letting out a soft breath. Her hands crept up to his shoulders as he tipped her back just slightly, planting kisses in a ring around her throat. When he nipped again she made a very slight noise, fingers gripping his coat as the wanting rose in her, soft but fierce.

“Nn... Ah... Adrian...”

She felt his smile as he pressed a kiss just under her ear.

“Yes?~”

She pushed, just a little, and he pulled back obligingly.

“Not... _here_.”

He sighed a little, then placed a small kiss on the tip of her nose.

“....I can still come for supper though, can't I?” he asked.

-

The wanting had faded by the time supper had rolled around, and other than a few stolen kisses, Adrian had behaved himself as he usually did. That is to say, he made everything feel all fluttery and warm when he smiled at her, but the hopeful anticipation that accompanied it was all her.

And it was.... well, it was honestly rather _fun_ watching him interact with her parents and her siblings. His politeness was tempered with humor and wit; he gently teased all of them at some point over the meal, but left them with the sense that he meant every jest kindly. And when Trevor or Sypha got in a dig of their own, he was not at all remiss in laughing at himself.

Anna enjoyed watching it, honestly; it made her think that this was a situation that could go on endlessly. He might have to be king one day, he might have royal duties to perform as a prince _now_, but... in the end, this was where he belonged. It felt _right_ for him to be there, with all of them.

After supper, when Adrian allowed himself to be gently pressured into playing with Gabriel, Simon, and Marie before their allotted bedtime, Sypha pulled her into the small study.

“Are you planning what I think you're planning?” she asked, an eyebrow going up.

Anna flushed a little, and shuffled sheepishly, not quite able to look at her mother. After a moment, Sypha chuckled and sighed ruefully.

“Well, I suppose I can't blame you. If I were ten years younger and not already married to your father,” and Anna looked up to catch her mother's impish grin, “I'd probably climb him like a grand old tree.”

“_Mother_,” Anna squeaked, blushing harder.

Sypha laughed, and hugged her gently, then tugged her over to the worktable.

“You've seen me make these before, for the ladies in the village,” she said, rummaging through a drawer until she pulled out a small silver charm. “As long as you keep it near, you won't have to worry about children.”

Anna curled her fingers around the charm, then looked anxiously up at her mother.

“...won't Dad...?”

“Your father is protective, but...” Sypha leaned lightly against the desk, and half-smiled. “We agree you've grown up well, Anna. If you think you're ready, all I can do is give you the tools that will keep you safe and let you discover for yourself. And if you decide you're not, if you find you're afraid or need help, well, we're here to help you. That's _why_ we're here. You're the oldest, but you're still our daughter, and we will_ always_ be here for you.”

There was something almost _ominous_ in those words, but Anna elected to ignore it in favor of the recognition that her parents trusted her to make the good choices, the _right_ choices... for herself. A year shy of true majority, but they still gave her that freedom.

So she flung her arms around her mother in a tight hug, pressing her face against the older woman's shoulder. Sypha hugged her tightly back, a hand coming up to stroke her hair gently.

“....love you, Ma.”

“I know. I love you too,” and Sypha pulled back gently, smiling fondly. “I think you made a very good choice, dear. Your father does too, even if he doesn't want to admit to it. Are you two discussing anything... concrete?”

Anna shook her head a little, content to lean affectionately against her mother.

“Adrian wants me to be officially of age before we... start talking about that,” she said shyly. “And I wouldn't even know where to start anyways. It's.... just being with him... it's enough. You know?”

Sypha smiled, nodding.

“I do. And it's probably for the best if you both take your time and think about what you truly want.”

-

It had taken some time to convince Simon and Gabriel that he was _not_ going to 'ravage' her—though Adrian had murmured in her ear that _ravishing_ was very likely, to which she had blushed and elbowed him in the ribs—and then even longer to convince them that she had every right to bring him up there. It had taken their father voicing agreement that Anna's room belonged to her, and she could bring up whomever she liked, to make them stop pestering.

“Little brothers,” she said irritably, as she pushed open the bedroom door, “are a right pain.”

Adrian just chuckled softly as he followed her in.

“They seem to have taken lessons from your father in terms of affectionate protection, though,” he gently shut the door behind them, as Anna moved to light the heavy stone lantern on her bedside table to provide more light, “they are much more clumsy at it. Refinement will come with age and time, my light.”

Anna elected to just mutter grumpily as she carefully recovered the wick of the lantern, then glanced towards the fireplace; the embers glowed softly, shedding a gentle heat into the room, and after a moment she moved towards it to add more wood. As she did, she looked up, and saw that he was still standing before the door, just looking around curiously.

Her room wasn't much, at least, not in comparison to what she expected a prince might have; it was just large enough for the fireplace, the freestanding closet, her bed, and the bedside table. None of it was fancy, but they were all solid pieces, built by Trevor and Sypha both. The mattress for the bed was stuffed with sheep's wool, and she had dyed and woven most of the blankets herself, opting for yellows, oranges, and deep blues. The floor was covered in pelts of animals her father had hunted, helping to keep the room just that little bit warmer. There were a few wall hangings; mostly stuff her father had brought back from village ventures. She had thought them all very fine, but now...

“It's not very.... impressive,” she said, her voice faltering a little.

Adrian moved slowly over to her, pulling her upright gently.

“That you've welcomed me into your space at all makes it impressive,” he replied, tugging at her until she was leaning against him. “It's comfortable and cozy, and very... _you_, my Anna. You don't have to change things in here to something you think I'll like... I adore you as you are.”

She half-closed her eyes and loosely wrapped her arms around his waist. His own arms wrapped around her and her heart stuttered a bit. Was this how it started?

“Flatterer.”

“Well, maybe a little,” and his chuckle was soft. “But it's true. Fancy trappings wouldn't change what I think of you, any more than not having these things at all would.”

He nuzzled at her gently, hands sliding softly up her back. She shivered a little, nestling more firmly against him.

“Though I must say,” and his warm breath against her ear made her shiver softly, “you having your own space we don't have to remove siblings or parents from is certainly... _ideal_.”

As her fingers curled loosely in his shirt, he brought his mouth to her neck kissing and nipping at the exposed skin gently. Anna shivered a bit more, tipping her head to the side in silent permission. He seemed quite content to nip and nibble, his hands sliding slowly up and down her back, soothing her.... making her want more.

What, for example, would it feel like to have his hands on her skin. What would it feel like to put her hands on _his_ skin?

When his mouth brushed against hers, she surprised them both with how she responded, pushing into the kiss and seeking more than just soft, subtle touches. Adrian's arms tightened around her, then one arm slipped down slightly, pulling her up and bracing her against him as he lifted her off the floor. It startled her enough that she clung to him, half-wrapping her legs around his hips as he turned towards the bed.

But he stopped, pulling back slightly as he set her gently on the mattress.

“Are you sure?”

“....if you don't come down here and keep kissing me like that, I swear, Adrian, I will bite you,” she informed him tartly.

He obliged with a soft laugh, his kiss sweeping her away into eager desire. As he leaned her back, his fingers came up to undo the lacings at the front of her dress; Anna followed his lead, untying his vest, and then loosening the strings of his shirt collar. The kissing paused briefly as he shucked the two garments, then teasingly slow, began easing her dress off her shoulders. What his fingers did not touch, his mouth did, and she caught her breath on a tiny moan as he nipped along her collarbone.

It took a bit of finagling that let her giggling a bit in embarrassment to get her dress off; she favored a simple dress over tunics and skirts, and it wasn't necessarily meant the be taken off the way Adrian had elected to do so.

“Your clothes are exceedingly complicated,” he teased her when the dress was finally a heap at the foot of the bed. “A gown, an undergown, another skirt, underthings~”

“...in my defense, it's been a cold spring,” she retorted, propping herself up briefly on her elbows to huff at him. “I'd wear.... fewer layers if it was warmer.”

“And then I'd miss out on unwrapping you like a present.”

She couldn't help giggling, and reached out to push him slightly.

“Keep talking like that and maybe I'll talk to Ma about making myself some breeches,” she mock threatened.

Adrian leaned in and kissed her softly.

“You won't hear me protesting,” he murmured, grinning slightly as he very slowly slid her shift up and over her head. Anna lifted her arms and shifted a bit to make it easier, huffing at him a little. “You have some very lovely legs.~”

Her shift ended up on the floor as well, and his hands slid softly over her skin; his mouth covered hers again, muffling the soft moan that slipped out as his hands traced over her breasts, delicately exploring and caressing. Not that her own hands were idle; though her touch was halting—was he _really_ enjoying her work-roughened hands on his skin? It seemed too strange—she couldn't exactly _stop_ herself from letting her fingers run along his skin.

He shifted slowly, each kiss and touch placed very deliberately as he trailed down her neck and over her collarbone, until his breath was warm between her exposed breasts.

“Are you all right?” he murmured.

“Mn.... uh huh,” she replied, breath catching as he lightly touched his tongue to her skin.

“Keep going?”

“...p... please....”

He trailed his lips farther along her skin, then trailed his tongue over one of her nipples. She shuddered, pushing up involuntarily, and he responded by suckling on one breast, as his fingers stroked and teased the other. Her hands tangled in his hair and she whimpered softly as he ever so gently used his teeth to tweak her nipple.

His other hand moved softly down over her stomach, _almost_ tickling, but just slightly too firm to bring about giggles. When his fingertips trailed over the band of her underwear, she shuddered a little harder, then couldn't quite stop herself from making a sound of complaint when he lifted his head from her chest.

“...still all right?”

Shivering a little, she nodded.

“More?~”

The teasing delight in his voice made her lift her head a bit to scowl at him. He chuckled slightly, and shifted up to kiss her gently.

“Is that a yes?” he murmured against her mouth.

“You,” she panted softly, then moaned as his fingers massaged her breasts, “are a... t-terrible... tease!”

He kissed her again, and did something clever with his hands that made her shudder and cling to him briefly.

“And?~”

She shifted and nipped at his shoulder, which made him laugh softly, and nip her shoulder in reply. Only he pressed more firmly, leaving a mark in place when he lifted his mouth off.

“Nnn... d-don't stop,” she gasped softly, arcing against him as he repeated his clever hand trick.

“You want more, love?”

“Ye-es...”

His hand slipped under the band, softly through the damp curls, and then stroked against her slick labia. Her hips shifted against his hand and she whimpered softly, eyes closing tightly as he touched that most intimate of places.

“All right?” he murmured, mouth soft against her neck. “Too much?”

“I'm.... I'm all right,” she panted, shivering as his fingers traced slowly along the damp slit. “K... Keep g-going.”

A finger slipped down among the folds, and found sensitive skin within, making her arc softly, pressing up into his hand.

“Anna?” He lips against her ear. “Trust me?”

She nodded mutely, shuddering as his fingers teased at her. His other hand drifted down, slowly easing the underwear off her hips and onto the floor as he coaxed out little darts of pleasure with his fingers. He moved slowly downward, gently easing her legs apart as he left a trail of kisses and love bites over her skin, nipping at the edge of her navel to make her squeak.

“...still all right?”

“Uh huh...”

Though 'all right' certainly wasn't the term _she_ would use. It felt almost like her nerve endings were on fire with wanting, and now he was down and _out of reach_, damn him!

He parted her labia, and made her moan as his tongue traced from bottom to top, the tip flicking along sensitive skin; when he slipped a finger inside, she gasped and arced softly, letting out tiny little whimpers as he slowly stroked and caressed. Her fingers clutched at her blankets in lieu of being able to reach him as his tongue and finger continued to play until her body could take no more and the pleasure burst over her in a wave.

Dimly she felt him pull back, and made a wordless protest; he couldn't just leave it at _that_, could he?

He stretched out next to her, pulling her into his arms gently, and her head landed on his chest, arms draping across him as she recognized the closeness and curled into it. She could feel his heart beating hard under her ear, and as she caught her breath, she let her hands drift.

He was still wearing pants, and that simply would not do.

Anna pressed her mouth delicately to his chest, trailing kisses across his skin. She heard his breath catch slightly as she shifted to nibbling at his skin, and his hands slid across her back, down over her rear and back up, pulling her against him a little more.

“Anna...” he groaned softly as she nipped his throat. “Do you want me, my love?”

“Yes,” and she shifted up until she could kiss him. “As much of you as you want to give me.”

He kissed her softly, passionately, then slid out of his pants before she could reach for them. Bare beneath, it caught her a bit off guard to be so suddenly presented with the proof of his desire, his wanting. It wasn't her first time seeing a penis—she had two brothers, after all, and escape from bathtime had been a favorite pastime when they were younger—but knowing that it signified his wanting, his desire for _her_...

“All of me,” he murmured, a hand slipping up her thigh to gently caress her labia again, making her moan softly. “I want you to have all of me.”

He rolled them both gently until she was on her back again, and positioned himself between her legs.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his touch trailing over her skin.

Anna shivered, and looked up at him; that too-beautiful face and unnatural eyes that marked him as faerie to anyone who paid attention... they _glowed_ in the lamplight, and he wasn't bothering to hide anything he was feeling. It was a little frightening... but mostly, it was comforting. Her friend, her beloved... her lover.

“....yes,” she said softly. “I want this. I want _you_.”

He leaned down and kissed her, then pressed into her gently. Anna shuddered, and clung to him; it didn't necessarily _hurt_, but it wasn't what she would consider a comfortable feeling either. When his hips were flush with hers, he elected to lay still, feathering soft kisses onto her face as she caught her breath and adjusted to the feeling of a penis inside her vagina.

Slowly she relaxed again, easing her hold on him until she was laying back on the bed properly once more. Shivering just a little still, she brought her hands up and let her fingers trail over his face and through his hair as he dropped little kisses onto her skin.

“Let me know if it hurts,” he said softly.

She nodded, then shuddered as he began a slow thrust. Discomfort eased slowly as he kept the movements steady and soft; it became pleasure as his hands wandered over her body again, fingers massaging her breasts and tweaking her nipples as he pressed passionate kisses to her mouth, and left small love bites on her skin.

She reciprocated, her hands trailing over his chest and down his back; his neck was a prime target for kisses and some soft bites of her own when he moved his mouth elsewhere, and going by the soft groans he was producing, he seemed to be enjoying it.

Her breath came in small gasps as he increased the pace, and she whimpered as he shifted his weight slightly, a hand moving down between their bodies to rub firmly at her clit until all she could do was hold onto him as pleasure swamped her again. She felt him shudder and jerk, letting out a long groan as she bit down harder than she meant to on his neck, and more than just pleasure poured into her.

He half-collapsed, rolling to the side in an effort to not lay _on_ her, but pulled her with him, tucking her neatly into his hold even as he continued to shudder with his own orgasm. Anna gasped for breath, and buried her face against his shoulder, more than willing to stay wrapped around him for the moment.

For a few moments, the only sounds in the room were the crackling fire, and their own ragged breathing. Slowly, Anna felt her racing heart slow, and caught her breath, and listened as Adrian did the same.

It didn't seem right to shatter the silence with words; she shifted slightly, and his hand came up, brushing some of her hair out of her face with a tender touch that made her turn her head a little and kiss his palm. He chuckled softly, and tipped her face up for a proper kiss.

“....care to go again?” he asked, a small smirk on his face.

She kissed back, and nestled closer to him.

“Whenever you're ready,” she murmured.

He laughed softly, and pressed another kiss to her mouth.

-

When summer arrived, it seemed to happen all at once; overnight, practically everything turned green, and flowers bloomed in a riot of colors and fragrances. As if making up for the cold and gloomy spring, the sun blazed down, and heat smothered the forest.

Which, of course, loaned itself to a new set of troubles. The rains needed to _keep_ everything green and growing seemed disinclined to come; the forest grew brittle and dry, the river dropping in its banks as the heat baked the sources. Water for the garden came from the well instead of the rains, and was absorbed into the ground so quickly Anna half-wondered if it wasn't all just evaporating into the air, and the water in the troughs for horses and other animals had to be replenished daily.

“It's like someone decided to _curse_ the weather,” Trevor said with a grimace, looking up at the cloudless blue sky. “A winter that killed, followed by a spring too cold for much planting? And now a summer so dry all it'll take is one uncautious fire to burn half the forest...”

Anna shuddered; fire was a common concern in even their usual summers. One like this, though...

“Trevor, I swear, if you jinx us, I will punch you,” Sypha threatened as she straightened from the weeding. “We're having enough troubles as it is, we don't need more.”

Anna nodded a little in agreement as she removed her hat and fanned herself briefly with it. While the heat had been sort of nice at first—and loaned itself to some interesting things Adrian had convinced her would be fun in the river—now it was just oppressive, and frightening. They were all suffering from sunburn, despite the precautions of Sypha's best creams, and Marie had come down with a summer cold that refused to go away, which left her too weak to do more than one or two things in a day.

Even Simon and Gabriel were uninterested in their usual round of summer skills; hunting, fishing, even running through the woods had lost its appeal in the oppressive heat. Not that it stopped them from being argumentative little twelve year olds, fighting with each other, and occasionally their parents when an argument got too loud or rambunctious.

“Has Adrian said anything?” Trevor asked, glancing at her.

Anna shook her head a little, replacing the hat on her head and half-wishing for a cool breeze.

“He's trying to look into it, I know that much, but I think he's coming to dead ends at every turn, and doesn't want to admit it,” and she smiled ruefully, wearily. “I suppose I can't blame him; having to say 'I don't know' every time he's asked probably is disheartening.”

“At least he _can_ look into it,” Sypha grumbled, tossing a determined weed over her shoulder into the basket. “My skills don't trend in that direction; while I could redirect a fire _around_ us, I certainly can't do weather...”

Anna gave her mother a sympathetic look; she couldn't even do _that_ much with her touch of gift. Plants and healing small injuries were her limit... And it was disheartening to _hear_ that Adrian hadn't found anything too, despite being away for several days at a time.

“When's your next meet up?”

She looked up at her father, then down at the plants.

“Not for a while... he can travel faster than most, but he's still looking for the princess, as well as looking into this. He promised to come by when he could, but... well, he couldn't really promise a day. Or a time.”

She missed him direly. It was one thing to know he had duties keeping him away in the long, dark months of winter; she didn't have to like that to accept it. But the other three seasons... in three years she'd gotten _used_ to seeing him every few days, even if all they did was talk at the river before he had to take his leave.

And since becoming his lover, it was made even more unbearable. The nights he came to spend with her family, and then with her were the brightest moments in her admittedly short life; she _enjoyed_ being held through the night, woken up by soft hands and delicate kisses. She enjoyed waking up before him and just being able to see him in an unguarded moment, tracing her fingers over his sharp features until those golden eyes slid open and he would give her the softest of smiles.

Even the nights where all they did was curl up together... it was so much better than sleeping alone. The comforting weight of his arm around her waist, the feel of his breath in her hair; listening to his heartbeat under her ear, the feel of his fingers twined with hers....

“He'll be back,” her mother said gently. “He loves you just as much.”

Anna blushed a little and ducked her head slightly; she was more embarrassed to be caught daydreaming than about the subject, and turned her attention back to the weeds.

-

“If it's a curse, it's not originating in this country, of that much I am certain,” Adrian said tiredly, leaning against the cool stone of the study fireplace. “And it's not located in the main city of Father's kingdom, though that doesn't necessarily mean much. My mother is urging him to look into it, but he's of the opinion that a human problem should be dealt with by the humans...”

Trevor made an annoyed sound from where he sat in one of the padded chairs.

“That tracks,” he muttered.

“_Is_ it just natural weather?” Sypha asked. “I know in some countries to the south, hard winters are followed by hard summers every few years...”

“It's not natural for this country, no,” Adrian replied. “Not from the records I've been able to look at. You'll have hard winters every fifty or so years, but it's never been followed by a heat this oppressive. Usually the year remains cold throughout; more rain for a bit, sometimes a flood, but not this.”

Sypha stifled a shiver, even as she shared a glance with Trevor; the idea that one of the faerie kingdoms had been keeping track of their weather for who knew how long was disturbing.

“I do know that the kingdom directly south of here is also suffering abnormal weather,” Adrian added after a moment. “The rains that should be flowing in this direction seem to be stuck down there. They've had flash floods, crops have been washed away, animals have become stranded and died on hilltops...”

“So basically it's a mess all around _except_ for any place that's ruled by fairies?” Trevor asked sardonically.

“Unfortunately so,” Adrian sighed a little. “I would love to blame this all on Carmilla, but without a point of origin...”

“Can we blame her anyways?” Sypha asked dryly.

It startled a chuckle out of him, and he offered a light shrug.

“Well, I certainly won't _stop_ you...”

-

The storm that finally broke the heat nearly started the forest fire they'd all been worrying about; it very well might have if the deluge that followed hadn't been almost literal sheets of water. Anna and Adrian had barely made it back to the house before the rain had simply dropped onto the land, and for the two weeks that followed they were kept busy both inside and out, trying to save the garden from flooding, and keeping the rising water out of house, barn and coop. Sypha's wards strained under the onslaught of magic used to keep the water manageable, even with Adrian actively trying to do things the mundane way, following the instructions Trevor gave and helping to shore things up with dirt and shovel instead of spells.

But inevitably, the magic was the only way to keep them all dry, and when he cast a spell, it _stayed_ cast.

It felt... well, it felt natural to have him there after the first few days; Trevor's less than comfortable attitude faded as Adrian threw himself at whatever task he was asked to handle, from helping to try and drain the garden to packing mud around the base of the barn or coop to keep the interior as dry as possible.

Most days ended with the entire household having just enough energy to dry off, eat a meal, and then stagger off to their rooms to sleep and hope that when they woke up they would not find the garden underwater, or their chickens floating in the henhouse. If Anna had some remaining dregs of energy, it translated into rubbing the aches out of Adrian's back; he had muscle to be certain, but trying to save a farm from flooding used those muscles in very different ways from fencing or shooting a bow. Sometimes he returned the favor, but most nights they simply curled up and went to sleep until the next crisis pulled them out of bed to begin the day's work all over again.

As one week faded into the next, the rain finally began to slacken into something that resembled a more normal rain. It still refused to cease, but the danger of flooding was not _quite_ as high, and after a few days of this, Adrian finally broached the subject of leaving.

“Not that I want to, mind,” he said, tugging her gently down onto the bed. “But if I don't check in soon, in person, I do think my father will send someone to look in on me. And if _that_ happens, I'm quite sure your mother will try to eat me.”

Anna made a face, and snuggled close to him, trying not to grumble. It was inevitable that he would need to leave, she had known from the start that he was only staying because of the heavy rains and the way they had made travel through the forest impossible. She just hadn't wanted to admit that it would be quite so soon.

Still...

“I don't think she'd eat you, but... well, the wards might give if someone else with magic shows up,” she admitted reluctantly, draping her arm across his chest. “I just....”

He kissed her forehead as he voice trailed off.

“I know, light,” and he nuzzled at her gently. “I want to stay. Your sister's continued illness is worrying, and the rain has not stopped. But you mother has the wards up for a reason, and I won't be the reason they fail, not when I respect what she wants to protect.”

He shifted slightly, making her squeak a little as he pulled her onto him, then tucked his arms comfortably around her waist.

“I'll try not to be gone long,” he murmured, nuzzling softly at the top of her head as she resituated herself, fixing the lay of her sleeping shift so that it wasn't tangling around her legs. “I'll likely have some things to do, some explanations to make.... do you think your mother would be willing to allow a speaking mirror?”

“...a what?”

“A speaking mirror. It,” he paused to yawn and she nuzzled at him softly, yawning a little herself, “would let me speak to my family from a distance and make sure that nothing requires my attention. Or, alternately, I could make one for you, and then we could talk even when I'm away.”

“Or both?”

He chuckled softly, kissing her forehead.

“Or both, if it's permissible.”

Anna blushed a little, and curled her fingers loosely on his shoulder.

“...I don't mean...”

A hand slipped up, and tipped her head slightly so that he could kiss her mouth with the gentle sweetness she had come to adore.

“I know,” and he nuzzled her softly, tucking some hair behind her ear as he let his head flop back onto the pillow. “Frankly, I like both myself; it's one thing to know I'm missed, but it would make me comfortable to see you and speak to you whenever I could. I'll ask your mother after breakfast. For now....”

His other hand crept down, and she squeaked, suddenly very much awake as he goosed her. He grinned impishly, and she thumped his chest very lightly, then shifted up to give him a kiss of her own.

-

The speaking mirror sat on her night table, and had been dark for several days. It made her wonder; as much as she trusted her mother's magical strength, she couldn't help wondering; was it not strong enough to keep the connection between the mirrors now that Adrian was beyond the border? Or was there some other reason that Adrian hadn't been able to contact her since he'd passed from their kingdom into his?

Unhappily, she fiddled with the anti-pregnancy charm, turning it this way and that to catch the flickering lamplight. Was it different for him, now that she was his lover? Did he feel less need to remain in contact after having gotten everything from her save the actual marriage?

She set the charm back down next to the lamp, then lifted the ring on its chain around her neck and lightly ran her fingers over the petals. She missed him. Didn't he miss her? She wanted to touch him, wanted to at least _see_ him and talk to him a little before giving in to her need for sleep.

But the ring remained dark, and the mirror remained silent.

Eventually she blew out the lamp, rolled onto her side, and fell into an uneasy sleep.

-

It was fall before she saw him again, and the rains continued the entire time. Some days were softer than others, but the rain was relentless, and when she made it out towards the river she'd dared not cross. It was a high torrent now, leaping for the tops of the banks, and while she could swim quite well, she didn't think anyone would thank her for risking her life.

She went to the river anyways, because that was where everything had begun, and even dangerous, she couldn't keep herself from checking. Even so, the fruitless endeavors were wearing her down; she ate, but only enough to satisfy her parents, and her sleep was fitful, a part of her listening for a gentle chime from the mirror, or even a soft glow from the ring that would tell her that he was at least _thinking_ about her.

She didn't expect him to meet her at home, and stood in the doorway, staring blankly as he looked up rather sheepishly from the chair into which he had so clearly been shoved.

Given that her mother was in the middle of a lecture, she couldn't quite blame him for staying _in_ the chair. Sypha on a tear was something best not interrupted. The fact that he was wrapped up in a thick blanket, holding a mug of tea implied that he'd been there for at least twenty minutes, and she had fussed over him before starting in on the scolding.

“And another thing-”

“Ah... M-Ma?”

Sypha stopped, and turned. Anna winced a little at the scowl on her face; even knowing it was not directed at her didn't make it comfortable to see.

“....you are soaked,” the older woman said, though her tone was gentler. “Go upstairs and change while I finish yelling at him.”

Adrian seemed to shrink just a bit more into his blanket, the sheepish look increasing. When Anna stepped forward, he put the mug aside, and hesitantly got to his feet... though he didn't stay upright very long as Anna threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face against his shoulder. Even as they landed back in the chair, his arms came around her tightly, and wet or not, he clung to her as much as she was clinging to him.

“I'm sorry,” he murmured in her ear. “I didn't mean to be silent or stay away so long, love, I'm so sorry...”

Anna heard her mother sigh a little, then walk out of the kitchen, giving them both some privacy. One of Adrian's hands stroked up and down Anna's back as she wept into the blanket, relieved and angry all at the same time. She wanted to shout at him herself for staying silent for so long; she wanted to kiss him until they were both breathless and drag him up to her room to make him prove that he was all right.

She did neither of these things; she just cried and remained on his lap. Eventually he began to talk.

“I should have waited a few more days,” he admitted quietly. “I hadn't thought human bandits would gather on Father's side of the border, looking to try and take everything they wanted. I was.... complacent, and caught by surprise like a fool. I was injured, the mirror broken, the necklace taken. I suppose I was lucky to not be tied up and used for a ransom of some sort. And then, of course, my father took exception to the events, so I had to talk him _out_ of an elaborate hunt that would have punished all the humans along the borders, not just them. Tracking them, even with aid, took more time than I wanted, but until they were found, my father refused to allow me leave to return.”

He went quiet and Anna sniffled a little, trying to regain control of her emotions.

“I would have come anyways, but the tracking aid was always there, watching. I'm not fond of him, but he does his job well, and we found the humans; being that they're from this country, Mother and I were able to persuade Father that it would be best if humans judged them, so now they're sitting in a little cell in one of the larger cities, where they'll remain for some time. Not that my troubles stopped there...”

His hands smoothed over her hair for a few moments while she waited.

“I spoke to my mother about your sister,” he continued finally. “Between her and my father, they came up with something that ought to be a cure, but it took a good deal of time, and I didn't want to return empty handed... I was _trying_ to tell your mother, but...”

Anna nodded a little in understanding.

“When Ma gets going, it's really hard to interrupt,” she said softly.

“And... I did deserve the scolding,” he sighed a little, and his hold on her tightened a bit more. “You would not be wrong in scolding as well. I should have found some way of contacting you when I knew it was going to be longer than a few days.”

She looked up into his remorseful face, hesitated a moment, then kissed him.

“I'm just glad you... you came back to me,” she said softly, pulling back just enough so that she could look into his eyes. “I thought... I was afraid that....”

This time he kissed her, hands cupping her face.

“Never,” he breathed against her mouth. “Never, never by choice, not now. I can't predict the future, but right now, no; I love you, and I will _always_ come for you.”

-

She wanted to have more time between his return and his winter departure, but the weather seemed disinclined to cooperate; barely a double handful of days later, they woke to a world sheathed in ice, It glazed the panes of the windows, and the ground between house and outbuildings, and still continued to fall.

“If you keep treating Marie with the medicines in the manner I instructed, she should be hale again by spring,” Adrian said as he pulled a broad-brimmed hat onto his head.

“Are you sure it's wise to leave in this weather?” Sypha asked.

“Unfortunately, I don't have much choice,” Adrian's smile was rueful, and unhappy, the glance cast between mother and daughter. “I would stay if I could, but there's much for me to do at home...”

Anna had the sense that he was not being entirely truthful, but at the same time, couldn't blame him. His summer stint had put a heavy strain on the wards, and that had been a bare two weeks. If winter was coming early, putting paid to a year that seemed _designed_ to kill people, it was probably best he go before the weather turned even more foul.

She didn't have to like it to understand the logic of it.

“I'll try to come before your birthday this time,” he said, pulling Anna in for a hug that she returned quite willingly. “I'd like to stay for a bit, if that's allowed?”

She felt him looking over her shoulder at her mother, heard her mother sigh.

“I'll have to restructure the wards from the ground up at this rate,” she complained mildly. “Though if this winter proves to be anything like the last, I'll have the time _for_ it...”

Anna half-turned, unwilling to leave Adrian's hold until she absolutely had to, and saw the perturbed look that flashed briefly across her mother's face. Something about this year, this coming birthday, had them all stretched thin in ways she didn't understand.

But Adrian had promised to tell her everything once that birthday was past. He'd _promised_.

So she would continue to hold her peace for the moment.

He softly kissed her temple, his hands tightening briefly at her waist.

“I haven't forgotten,” he murmured softly. “I will tell you if they don't, my light. Just be patient with us for a bit longer...” Then he smiled, and kissed the tip of her nose. “And make wedding plans~”

Anna flushed, and pressed her forehead against his shoulder; true, with her parents permission she could marry now, but _she_ wanted to wait for the all important birthday to come as well. To get her answers, as well as her majority...

“As if there's much to plan,” she scoffed gently, tucking her head against his shoulder. “If there's guests to invite, that's all on you, you know.”

He nuzzled at her gently.

“Well, I look forward to hearing some silly requests,” he teased gently. “I'll happily turn my magic to anything fanciful you might want, you know.”

“...I know,” and she leaned up to kiss his cheek. “You're silly like that.”

He gave her a soft, brief kiss, then stepped back, releasing her with an undisguised reluctance. Anna wanted to cling, wanted to go with him, but she made herself let go as well, and if she was a little teary-eyed, well, she'd been a bit spoiled by how much he'd stayed this year.

“I'll see you come spring, my love. I promise.”

He slung the oiled leather cape around his shoulders and stepped out of the house.

-

Winter seemed inclined to follow suit in the oddities of weather; it didn't get cold enough to blanket everything in snow, but the icy rain continued for several weeks, building slick layers on the ground that no one avoided taking a tumble on.

If anything, Simon and Gabriel regarded it as something of a competition; instead of trying to walk and avoid slipping, they would pelt and skid across the yard, and whoever had the most bruises—_without_ breaking eggs or spilling milk—was the winner.

It certainly made the ice somewhat more bearable to know that at least _someone_ was having fun with it, and it wasn't unusual to find Anna watching with Marie as the boys slipped and slid across the yard, running into things. Sometimes they even assigned them points based on style, just to give it their own brand of silliness.

Marie's recovery was slow, but steady; Sypha was leaving nothing to chance, and followed the instructions Adrian had given her for the medicines to the letter. Given, however, that Sypha truly _was_ getting involved in a complete ward overhaul, most of the actual tending was left to Anna.

Not that she minded. She loved her little sister, and was glad to see her continuing to get better. Every now and again as she watched Marie making her slow, aching way across the floor in the prescribed exercises, she added another little tally to the box in her mind that demanded she find some way of repaying him for this. Something, _anything_, because the life of her sister was worth so very much.

Thanks to the abnormality of the weather, food became scarce; the harvests had been poor, and the abrupt change from fall to winter had done no one any favors; the sheets of ice had caused much of what _had_ grown to rot because it was simply too dangerous to get out onto the icy ground and harvest them. Animals died from starvation, and while they provided some sustenance with their deaths, they provided more alive, and it was hard to see them go.

Everyone grew thin and a little bit haggard; the boys stopped playing on the ice, Marie took back to her bed despite her renewed strength, and one day Trevor hitched up horse and cart and drove off without a word to the children.

“...Dad's coming back, right Ma?” Anna asked after her father had been gone a week.

“He is,” Sypha said with a firm, if exhausted nod. “He's gone off to the King's Lodge; he's still a knight of the realm, even if we've been.... out of touch. The king provides for his knights, and with any luck, there will be provisions made for all of us.”

Anna nodded her understanding, and turned her attention back to the paper under her hands; she couldn't get messages _to_ Adrian, but she still wrote to him every night. Sometimes it was only a few words, a summation of the day, but it still helped to at least _pretend_ he might have an idea of how she'd been spending her winter.

It helped ease the loneliness too, and she suspected her mother was doing something similar, when not poring through the books in the study, trying to build a new set of wards from scratch.

“Ma...?”

“Hm?”

“If... if everything's going to come out when I'm eighteen.... will the wards still be needed?”

Sypha blinked, and leaned back a little, staring in surprise. Anna flushed a little in embarrassment, then looked away.

“...well, maybe not for the same reasons,” Sypha said slowly, “but what comes to light... it could invite retaliation. So, yes. The wards will still be necessary to keep us as safe as possible. But other things will be more... relaxed. Hopefully.”

“Hopefully?” Anna chanced a glance at her mother, and was rewarded with an amused smile.

“Hopefully. We've lived like this for a long time, so it's going to take some effort to.... let go of the habits that have kept us safe. But then,” and the older woman chuckled ruefully. “Some of the things we were worrying about have been made moot.”

Anna wondered just what was now a moot point, and what had made them that way, but elected not to press. She would know soon enough.

-

When Trevor finally returned, it was with half a cart full of food.

“Took the other half to the village,” he said as he carefully carried in bags of wheat, corn, and other foodstuffs. “Doled it out there as best I could. They've lost a handful of littles, and at least four of the older folk too, between the ice and the starvation. No illnesses yet, but there's a feel in the air like that's coming too...”

“...we suffered through that enough last winter,” Sypha muttered. “I'd rather not do it again...”

“Agreed, but we may not get a choice...”

Sypha sighed and rubbed her face tiredly as Anna came back for another back of something; this last few months, so crucial, so _prudent_...

Trevor put a hand on his wife's shoulder, and squeezed gently.

“We can make it, Sypha,” he murmured, half-smiling as Anna hefted a bag half as big as she was with care. “We just have to keep this up for a little longer, and then it'll be done with, at least for us.”

“...no it won't,” and Sypha huffed up at him quietly. “You know better than that...”

-

Unlike the previous winter, it never quite got _cold_ enough for snow. Just an icy rain that fell off and on, reglazing the ground whenever it started to seem like it might be safe to walk instead of mince, weighing down tree limbs until they broke.

_I wish you could have been here_, Anna wrote, shivering a bit as her other hand clutched at the mug of tea. _Scared me half to death, I swear. Never thought a branch could break through Dad's roof, but with the weight of the ice, and how far it fell... Good thing I was only getting ready for bed and not actually in it, that would have been really bad..._

She shivered a little again; the branch wouldn't have been the dangerous part, it was the roof beam that had come with it, half-flattening her mattresses, that would have caused the actual injury. It wasn't the end of the world; she could share space easily enough with Marie, all things considered. It has just been... frightening. And Anna had no contact with Adrian, couldn't even let him know how much she missed him thanks to that whole mess during summer.

Still, writing to him, pretending she _could_ tell him, helped. She'd tell him all about it on her birthday, hopefully... just spend the hours talking, until it was time to come home for supper... and whatever else he wanted to do to her after.

Anna shook her head briefly, putting the pen back in the inkwell, and stared out the ice-covered window. What _was_ wrong with the weather? Would it ease up as spring continued to approach? She hoped it would; she wanted to see green again, and not just the green of the pines. She wanted the ice to go away, she wanted the grass to come back, the alders to throw out new shoots and leaves, no matter how sticky the leaf casings would be.

_Dad's annoyed because he can't go up and fix it right away, but Ma put her foot down and strung up some canvas instead. Considering how Simon and Gabriel are still legitimately able to skate across the yard, I can't really blame her. I don't mind sharing with Marie either; it lets me keep an eye on her and all that..._

_-_

Twice more Trevor had to leave for the nearest King's Lodge to get them and the nearby village the food to last through the winter, but last through it they did. Not easily, not happily, but they survived, and if they were all a bit gaunt by the time the rain stopped being ice, well, they had done all they could about that.

As if making up from the previous year, spring practically _catapulted_ into existence. When the last of the ice faded into oblivion, it seemed to take next to no time at all for the plants to throw up new shoots and leaves. Birds were in raucous chorus, and seemed for every fish caught in the river—which had at least returned to its natural height and placid pace—there was another practically throwing itself upon the hook.

Anna did her best to squash the hope that an early spring would mean a return of her lover; for one thing, she remembered him saying that the weather on his side of the bored had been normal to their own out of sorts, which no doubt meant that he was still dealing with some snow and ice.

So instead she settled for counting the days until her eighteenth birthday. She had, as he'd asked, made notes on what might do for a wedding, but really, she didn't care too much _how_ it went. The point was to be wed to him, and other than her family as witness and celebrants both, she couldn't really think of anything _special_ she wanted to have happen.

The days inched past slowly as the cows and sheep gave birth to new babies, chicks hatched from eggs, and the garden was planted. When she could she helped Trevor with repairing the damage done to the roof of the house and the outbuildings. Mostly from the ground—she had no head for heights and never had. The boys, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of scampering up and down the ladder, bringing nails, tools, and even lunch up to Trevor when asked.

About the only real good thing that had come of the oddest of winters was that Anna had not gone far from the house, and thus, had not seen the strange faerie man. And if she hadn't necessarily _enjoyed_ being indoors all the time, well, she was willing to take what little comfort she could from that small piece of knowledge.

-

Tension was wound tight as the fateful day approached, and Anna found herself waking well before even the dawn when it came. She sat up in bed carefully—she was still sharing space with Marie, and while the girl was mostly recovered, interrupting her sleep wasn't something Anna was inclined towards—then slipped from between the blankets and padded softly out of the room, a queer restlessness making her seek the kitchen to start the kettle for some tea.

As she coaxed the embers of the fire back to life and set the kettle to heating, she couldn't helped but glance out the window at the star-studded spring night sky. Was Adrian under those stars right now, or was he still in his home, snug in his bed? She'd never thought to really _measure_ how far her home was from the nearest border, let alone how far to what had to be the capital city of Adrian's country. Magic could do quite a lot, but he was only _half_ faerie...

She shook her head a little, absently hugging herself; she couldn't even rightly say if she was excited or unnerved. Something about this day was going to change everything she knew, everything she _thought_ she knew, and she could only hope that it wouldn't _hurt_ when it happened.

The kettle hissed softly, and she pulled it carefully from the stove, fetching her mug, and her mothers best bled of soothing tea. Maybe she wouldn't sleep further this night, but it couldn't hurt to at least _try_. While it might amuse Adrian if she was napping when he arrived, it would be embarrassing for her, to be certain. She wanted to be awake to greet him, wanted to be able to fling her arms around him as he got off the horse, to kiss him with all the pent up feelings she'd had ever since he'd had to leave again.

Wanted him to never _have_ to leave again...

She shook her head a little as she let the tea steep, then sweetened it liberally before picking it up and moving towards the study; if she couldn't _sleep_, she could read, and that usually helped...

But as the hours slipped by, Anna found herself more awake instead of less, and more uneasy than excited. Something was wrong, something was... _different_ about this day, in a way that was undefinable. Her tea was forgotten on her mother's desk, her book open to her favorite chapter went unread on her lap as she watched out the window; the velvet darkness was slowly replaced with lightening shades of blue that slowly became gray as clouds came gently rolling in.

A light, misting rain began as she heard her parent's bedroom door open and the soft murmur of their voices as the descended the stairs. Shaking herself free of the uneasy paralysis, she got to her feet, and went to her own room to gather her clothes for the day. Impulsively, she pulled on one of the gowns Adrian had given her the year before, now properly hemmed, and more fancifully embroidered by her own hands. She took it to the washroom, cleaned herself up, and tried to pretend that it was just another day, one that would go _well_.

-

“-that's the main problem, anyways,” Sypha said with a small sigh. “Before I can set the new wards up, I have to take the old ones down, and it won't be for a short while. Dismantling everything will take a day at the least, and then set up could take as long as a week, during which I'll need to have Adrian _here_ so I can weave him into the recognition spell...”

Anna nodded, nibbling at her toast.

“So when I meet him, I need to tell him that he should make plans soon, for a stay longer than a day?” she hazarded.

“If you could, dear. He's coming tonight, yes?”

“...hopefully,” Anna smiled a little shyly, trying to ignore the twisting of her stomach. “He should be here today, hopefully... He did promise that if you weren't going to tell me this big secret, he would.”

Sypha's blue eyes took on a distant, worried look, but after a moment she sighed, nodding.

“Try to stay dry if you can, dear. I don't _think_ the rain will pick up, but... well, it wouldn't be much of a birthday if you got soaked to the skin, now would it?”

Anna flushed a little, and tried to _avoid_ imagining Adrian's reaction to that. He would probably take great enjoyment in peeling her out of the soaked clothes and helping her into the bath. And then teasing her remorselessly until they were both sated, exhausted, and warm...

Sypha chuckled and kissed her forehead softly.

“Go have fun,” she said fondly. “Be safe.”

“Yes, Ma.”

Since her bag was already packed and waiting for her, Anna simply grabbed her cloak from its peg, then the bag on her way out the door into the misty morning. A part of her hoped that the weather would now go back to normal, and they wouldn't suffer a saturated spring... after the previous year's mishaps, she wasn't sure how well the country would take that sort of issue.

The water dripped down onto her cloak in soft patters of sound, over which she could hear the cheerful singing of birds, and the occasional rustle in the brush as creatures moved about. Mist wreathed the path, and she picked her steps carefully; just because she _thought_ she knew it well didn't mean that there wouldn't be an unexpected hole or tree root.

She hadn't expected him to be waiting by the river, so when a tall figure materialized from the mist, her heart gave a hard bump; had he beat her there for once, as eager as she was to be in contact again?

But as she approached, the figure turned, and the features resolved into the strange faerie male who had so unnerved and watched her endlessly. Anna froze, one hand falling to her dagger as he approached.

“Be at peace, princess, I mean you no harm,” he said smoothly, hands up and open. “It is merely time for your return to the palace.”

“....I don't know what you're talking about,” Anna replied, edging backwards. “I'm not a princess, and I've never lived in a palace...”

“No, you have not, and more the shame on those humans who were to protect you by taking you to the Lodge,” his lips thinned slightly. “I have spent many a year seeking you out, and you will need to learn very quickly many of the lessons befitting a future queen.”

Anna's fingers tightened on the dagger hilt.

“Who _are_ you?” she demanded, voice rising despite her attempts at calm. “Why do you _insist_ on following me around, a-and judging me?! You have no right-”

“Princess, I would have this meeting end swiftly,” he interrupted. “Before certain other interferences attempt to become known. Unfortunately, mortals do not travel well along faerie paths, so if you'll forgive my abruptness...”

One moment, his hands were empty, and he was a good five feet away; the next he was in her face, blowing what looked to be a handful of glittering dust into her face. She tried to avoid breathing it in, but it happened so fast that she didn't even have time to draw her dagger; the world spun abruptly, and the colors bled into one another even as she struggled against the magic. Stong, slim hands caught her, and she felt her bag removed, falling to the path with a small squelch... but more than that, she felt him lift the necklace from her before the darkness swept her under.

-

“-ken soon? ….really must.... need to dress... so much to...”

Words faded in and out as Anna struggled back towards consciousness. A low murmur of voices swiftly replaced the rushing in her ears, though getting her eyes to open was still too much effort. Sensation returned slower than hearing, so it took her a bit to realize that she had been stripped down, and put under what felt like heavy velvet blankets. The mattress beneath was soft, as though she was sinking into feathers, with silk as the border between.

“Yes, majesty, her highness should awaken soon. In the interest of speeding her arrival, I took some... unconventional paths, which is why I needed her to be unconscious.”

A soft flame of anger kindled in her; how _dare_ he kidnap her away from her home and her family?! How _dare_ he take her things from her, _especially_ Adrian's ring?!

A hand touched one of her that was laid out on top of the coverlet, lifting the limp appendage that she still couldn't convince to move. Another touched her hair, tugging at a few stray locks.

“Her hands are so rough,” said another, lower feminine voice. “How could they make a princess work for her living? What man will be interested in a woman with calluses like these?”

“This hair is only a little better; what unruly curls these are! And so dry... the only befitting thing about it is the lovely coloration!”

Normally, Anna's temper was slow to rise, and slower still to flare. But it rose now, and cleared out the last of whatever the faerie man had drugged her with. Her eyes snapped open to the sight of several women in velvets and jewels standing over her. Most of them jumped back with startled noises, releasing the bits of her they had been fondling as she thrust herself upright.

The faerie male and the woman she presumed was 'majesty' stood at the midpoint of the room, near a large fireplace which snapped with a well-laid fire. He held a smile on his fine-boned face that struck her immediately as false, but the woman...

Green eyes and copper skin. Deep brown hair, oiled and coiled into a braided bun. Her dress was fine, ostentatious, really, but the colors and style suited her well; better than the other women who had backed away from the bed looking somewhat alarmed, though they seemed to be quickly recovering their composure.

“Where am I?” Anna demanded, flinging the blanket back, uncaring of the fact that she had been stripped to her underthings. “And I say again _who are you_?”

And she pointed at the faerie male, who bowed politely.

“There was little time to be-”

“Don't give me that!” Anna snapped, hands shaking as she clenched them into fists. “You've been stalking and harassing me for two winters now, _at least_. Who the hell are you, and how _dare-_”

“Marianna! Such _language_ does not befit a princess.”

“_I'm not a princess!_” Anna shot back, turning her gaze to the woman.

“But you are,” and it was the gentility of the faerie man's voice that cut her off more than the disapproval on the woman's face. “You are the heir to this kingdom, not some failed sorceress's magicless spawn.”

“My mother is _not_ a failed sorceress!”

“That woman is not your mother,” interjected the other woman. “And you are making a terrible scene.”

“Well maybe if someone would give me some damned answers-”

“_Language!_”

“Oh, sorry, does swearing offend you? Dad told me to swear only when it seemed appropriate, and _being kidnapped_ seems like a perfectly appropriate time to me!”

“That knight is not-”

“_Spare me_,” Anna interrupted, glaring indiscriminately now. “You kidnapped me from my home, _right_ before meeting my fiancee at the river, and now you're trying to insist that my parents _aren't_ my parents? As if _that's_ the important part, and not the fact that _I've been kidnapped?!_”

“Marianna, you are being unreasonable, and unnecessarily difficult,” the woman said, putting her hands on her hips. “Raised in such an uncouth way, I had _hoped_ you would have more manners than this!”

“_Then maybe you shouldn't have kidnapped me_,” Anna snapped. “And for the record, my name is _not_ Marianna!”

“...well, she certainly inherited his majesty's temper,” came a murmur from one of the ladies behind her.

“A fiancee? How droll,” tittered a second. “As if a princess could truly choose her own partner.”

“Do you think that means she's not...”

This one was met with shushing noises, and the icy stare of the woman before her briefly transferred to the women at her back.

“In short, highness, you are, in fact, Princess Marianna. You have not been kidnapped, you have been returned to your true home, and your true life now that you are of age to do so,” the faerie said into the briefly quiet space. “The king and queen have arranged a grand fete for tonight, to celebrate your return, and your resumption of your rightful place.”

“Prove it.”

“_Marianna_.”

The woman—Anna assumed she had to be the queen, since that was the only reason anyone was called 'majesty' unless it was a play or pantomime—looked appalled.... and possibly a little hurt. As if she had been expecting a very different sort of reaction.

If the story Anna had been told by Adrian was _right_, she probably had been. But Anna had a stubborn streak in her a mile wide at times, and there was simply _no proof_ that what these people were saying was true.

“...come to the mirror, princess, and see for yourself.”

Anna didn't want to step near the faerie man, who still hadn't introduced himself, but she did so carefully; the ornate mirror that he led her to was freestanding, on _wheels_ of all things, and first her turned it to face her and the queen who stepped up beside her. Anna flinched slightly, recognizing the similarity in their facial structure almost immediately; the queen's face was a little heavier, a little more square, but the similarities were hard to ignore.

Similarities she hadn't shared with Sypha...

Before she could think on it too hard, an image formed in the depths of the mirror, replacing the reflections of herself and the queen. A grand room formed, grander than anything she'd seen in her life, and she felt a chill wash over her as the events from eighteen years prior began to play out.

-

“Hold these,” Sypha said, shoving books into Adrian's arms. “Trevor! I need the fennel and ginger from the kitchen! _Now_!”

Adrian clutched at the books on reflex, taking care to avoid dropping the ring. He'd planned to give Anna a new one that he'd had made over the summer, a more fanciful twin tot he one he planned to wear as a wedding band, but right at the moment her old one was likely to give them much more in the way of answers.

He moved quickly out of the way, to a more unobtrusive corner as Sypha threw a handful of ingredients into a small cauldron she had set up over the study's fire, muttered briefly over it, then turned in search of others. She snatched one book from his stack as she passed and thumbed through it quickly, leaving it open to the relevant page as she set it on the table she walked by.

Since his arrival, to say things had been a bit panicked was being kind. He'd come racing up, Anna's bag in one hand, ring in the other, ready and willing to demand answers out of all of them for this if he had to.

He hadn't expected that it wasn't _their_ idea, and that they were just as clueless as he was when it came to Anna's current whereabouts. Her younger siblings were crowded in the doorway, watching with wide, frightened eyes, and he _was_ sorry about that, but at the moment, finding out where Anna _was_, was just slightly more important to him than soothing them.

Trevor edged past the children, and carefully set the requested items on the same table as the book; Sypha snatched them up and tossed them into a mortar with a handful of other things, then shoved this at Adrian as well, who quickly passed the books to Trevor before something could fall.

“Grind and concentrate on Anna,” she ordered, snatching another book from the stack now held by her husband. “...knew we should have invested in a magic mirror...”

Trevor wisely elected to say nothing as Adrian obediently got to work.

It wasn't hard to focus his thoughts on Anna, and he did so with a will; the way her hair looked when he coaxed her into taking it down so that he could brush it, the way her eyes would light up when he did something as simple as take her hand. The way she liked to lay across him at night, whether they were skin to skin or wearing bedclothes, so that he could wrap himself around her more thoroughly. The way she would hum when she thought no one was listening and she was feeling particularly contented within the moment...

Sypha pulled the tools from his hand, making him blink a little in befuddlement as she moved back to the cauldron and poured the ground up items into it. There was a faint puff, and a small billow of smoke that glimmered briefly before settling, then she swung the cauldron out from over the fire and peered into it with a frown.

“....how?” she asked finally, her voice the dangerous calm that had the three younger children scatter instantly. “How, pray tell, can someone get from here to the castle grounds in less than three hours?”

“She's at the _castle?_” Trevor squawked. “The day's not over yet, there's still-”

“They'd have to take a sidepath,” Adrian interrupted, frowning a little. “But that's not easy on a human. And who in their right mind _would_ take her there, that's the _last_ place she needs to be... If Carmilla's paying any attention at all, that's the first place she'll look, at this kingdom's overconfident rulers...”

“What's a sidepath?” Sypha asked.

“It's... a faerie travel route. We step to the side, and distances are... shortened. I believe humans call it teleportation, though it's certainly not instantaneous. It still takes _time_ to walk, it just makes things faster. And it's not easy to bring a mortal along those paths... Anna would have needed to be asleep or unconscious to travel them safely.”

“Why?” Trevor asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Adrian sighed a little.

“When you step sideways, you're neither here nor there,” he explained carefully. “As a result, you can often see some very strange and outright disturbing things. If you step off the sidepath, you run the risk of being lost in there forever, and there are things _in_ the sidepath that will make a meal of the unwary.”

“...and humans have a tendency to run away from something they can't understand,” Sypha said slowly.

Adrian nodded.

“That or they run towards it to try and understand it,” and despite the seriousness of the situation, he had to smile dryly. “Someone's curiosity can get them killed just as much as their fear.”

“So then... how do _we_ make it to the castle before everything falls apart? Because if we try and do it the normal way, it'll take the better part of a month, and I don't want to leave her there any longer than necessary,” Sypha said firmly.

Trevor grimaced.

“If she's been there this long, she probably already knows,” he pointed out. “Would she even _want_ us there?”

“Regardless of wanting, this is the last day Carmilla's curse can be fulfilled,” Adrian said quietly. “If Anna is struck down by it, the castle inhabitants will follow, and possibly several towns beyond. That will leave this kingdom open for both my father _and_ Carmilla's people to try and annex.”

“...right.” And Trevor sighed, then cracked his knuckles briefly. “I'll get my sword.”

-

Emotionally numb was a good way to describe how Anna had passed the afternoon. The people she had thought were her parents... weren't her parents. They held no relation to her at all. They had _lied_ to her for eighteen years, keeping her tucked away in the forest where no one could find her, where no one could _know_ where to find her...

Adrian knew too. He'd known every since they'd had that private talk, there was no way that hadn't been the topic of conversation. It explained why he'd suddenly been so much more in evidence, why he'd seemed more relaxed about his search.

But he hadn't told her either.

Once the faerie man—who had finally introduced himself as Quinn—had finished showing her the truth, she had been turned over to a series of maids who had more or less tugged her from place to place as Anna's shocked mind tried to absorb this new truth.

She was a princess. Not just _a_ princess, the _crown_ princess. Protected and lied to at every turn because of a death curse, that had become a sleeping curse.

The maids took her first to a bathing chamber where she was fully disrobed and plunked into a bath. Hot, scented water was poured over her, her hair was taken down from the customary braids, and she was scrubbed within an inch of her life, which she submitted to meekly, still too deep in shock to protest or resist. They clucked over the state of hair and hands, scolded her for rough skin that she'd never had any sort of control over anyways since she much preferred being outside to doing indoor chores, and then lead her to another room where she was rubbed with oils from the top of her head to the soles of her feet.

New underthings were presented, and then a robe was thrown on over the top, and soft slippers were put over her feet as she was lead to another room where people armed with brushes and combs waited to attack her hair. _Here_ she managed some protest; they were _absolutely not_ going to cut it all off. Once they assured her the only cutting would be to trim up the ends—and she watched them sharply to ensure this, raising her voice if it seemed they were going to do more—she let them work, and returned her brain to the puzzle it was now struggling with.

On the one hand, she felt... hurt and betrayed. Suddenly all the little discrepancies over the years, how she had never quite fit in, made _sense_. She was not their true daughter, _of_ _course_ they would not love her the same as if she had been born of Sypha. _Of course_ she shared no real resemblance to either of them, either in temperament or physicality. And her siblings... had they picked up on these cues subconsciously, was that why Gabriel and Simon had always seemed a little more rude to her than they were to Marie?

They could have told her at any time once she was old enough to understand! It wouldn't have been pleasant, no, but it wouldn't hurt _this_ much if she'd had some sort of forewarning that this was the truth, _this_ was the secret they'd carried for eighteen years.

And Adrian had no real excuse himself for not saying anything once he knew for sure!

And yet...

As Anna was pulled to the next room, and the maids began bustling about pulling this gown and that one out of a tall closet, she had to admit that they had only been trying to protect her. Just like the king had ordered, they had taken her into the forest, kept her isolated and in the dark, to keep her _safe_. It wasn't entirely their fault that no one else had considered what the words 'truly loves you' could mean... It certainly _sounded_ like it held romantic connotations, and why shouldn't it? True love was always a factor in fantasy stories...

Really, Adrian had only been acceding to the wishes of Sypha and Trevor. He'd _promised_ to tell her the truth just as soon as her birthday, _this_ birthday, had passed. So, for that matter, had they.

And now the flickering anger began to find another foothold; how dare Quinn rip the truth away so brutally, without giving Trevor or Sypha—and yes, they _were_ her parents, they'd had more to do with raising her than the royal figures she barely knew of—a chance to break the news more gently. How _dare_ he do this on the last day of her hiding, without knowing the consequences of what _could_ happen now?!

And how dare he take her away from her family and her fiancee without permission?

All these thoughts Anna kept to herself; there was no friendly face here among these chattering women who dressed her so effectively, putting polish on her nails, paints and other things on her face that felt uncomfortable, and helped with bejeweling her hair and body. There were no friendly faces in the people that walked around the bustling women as she was moved from room to room for each step of this long and exhausting process.

When she was finally shown back to the room she'd woken up in, the person she saw in the mirror was not one she recognized. Powder lightened the golden brown of her skin, more deepened the green of her eyes. The other powders and paints drew attention to the line of her lips, created false roses in her cheeks... and the glitter in her eyes was that of anger more than anything else.

She dripped with gold adornments, all of them elaborate and heavy, none of it pleasant to wear. Various gemstones caught the light and flickered as she was settled silently onto a stool, and the maids curtsied themselves back out of the room.

It was the click of the lock that snapped her back into place, and in moments she was on her feet, moving to the window she could easily reach even as encumbered as she was. Even in dainty slippers, if she could just reach the ground...

As she swung open the glass, she chanced a look down, and swallowed hard. It seemed they were taking no chances; she'd been _told_ that the palace was built as part of the iron mountain itself, but she had never really appreciated what that meant. Mostly because up until this point it hadn't meant _anything; _now, however, it meant that the window she looked down from was almost a sheer drop for at least four times her height, and only then did a _hint_ of a path begin to peep through the thick mists.

She yanked herself back inside, heart in her throat, and closed the window again, stumbling back until she found the stool to collapse onto shakily. All right. Direct escape was clearly out. But there had to be an indirect route, because she was in no small way _planning_ to stay put and make this easy on anyone. Her parents owed her an explanation, and that explanation had been ripped away from them, But they still owed her their reasons for _not_ saying something...

And she was not going to give up Adrian for anyone. She didn't want this throne, this stifling life. She was no princess, she didn't know how to be diplomatic, or proper, or any of the other things a princess would need to know. Given the choice....

A choice....

Anna's head came up, and she looked around the room again. She was supposed to injure herself on an iron implement of some sort, which would trigger the curse and put her into an enchanted sleep. They had been very careful to use anything _but_ while tending to her, even if that made it take twice as long.

What if she did it _on purpose_ as a way to protest what had just happened?

She got to her feet with care; it was hours past lunch, almost time for dinner, really, and her body was letting her no in no uncertain terms that it didn't appreciate being this hungry after a difficult winter. The fete would start soon, and she was expected to make a grand entrance, or so she assumed. What else would have been the point to this whole rigmarole they'd thrown her into?

That meant she had to find something of iron, and she had to do it fast.

-

“Are you both secured?” Adrian asked, looking up at the two adult humans who were sitting on his horse.

Trevor nodded, tugging lightly at the ropes. Sypha double-checked the knots, then nodded as well, before looking past him at the three children who were standing in the doorway.

“We'll be back soon, with your sister,” she promised. “Take care of the house, and stay inside the wards until we get back, all right?”

Three heads nodded solemnly; Simon and Gabriel seemed inclined to take this duty seriously, leaving only Marie to be the one with teary eyes. Adrian looked at them as well, and winced a little; it didn't really matter whether or not Anna was their blood, she was their older sister, and if she didn't come back, it would affect the entire family.

He hoped she _would_ come back. He thought he knew her well, but a shock like this, unprompted and unlooked for...

“Close your eyes and breathe deep,” he said, taking the reins in one hand. “You'll only be out as long as we're on the sidepath, but it will still be disorienting at best.”

As the adults obeyed, Adrian closed his own eyes and concentrated, calling up one of the faerie's more common gifts; the ability to cause slumber in any mortal being. Trevor and Sypha slumped after a few moments, and he nodded a little in relief.

Then he turned, and saluted the two boys and one girl before leading the horse with her unconscious burdens out of the yard. Reaching the sidepaths was harder for him than a full faerie, and he'd never tried to get to the capital in one straight shot before... but to rescue his Anna, he was damned well going to give it a go.

-

It had taken some doing to pry a nail from the bed frame, but it was the only iron she'd been able to find. They had scoured the room clean, it seemed, and clearly hadn't expected that she'd have the ability or the will to go after the wooden slats holding up the feather mattress.

But Anna was determined; if these people wanted to try and take away everything she'd ever known, just because _they_ thought they knew what was best, well, she was going to show them that she was her own person.

It was scary though. Because what if Adrian didn't come? What if Adrian _couldn't_ come? Would or could Sypha and Trevor? Would one of her siblings count? Or would they all remain asleep for the full century's worth of time?

She gritted her teeth slightly, and clutched the nail in her hand. Injured meant a lot of things... did it mean deep enough to bleed, or would just a small scrape do? Pressure was obviously out, since she'd pulled and pulled on the nail until it had come free.

After a moment she screwed up her courage and jabbed the point of the nail into the pad of her thumb, hard enough to break the skin. As the first drops of blood oozed out, the world dipped and wobbled; Anna put out her hands, dimly grateful that she'd thought to do this kneeling on the carpeted floor, then collapsed in a heap, throwing herself into the tangled darkness of enchanted sleep.

-

The silence when Adrian brought them all out into the castle courtyard was almost deafening. If he hadn't felt the tingle of a spell in the air he might well had been unnerved. Even _knowing_ it was magic, it still raised the hair on the back of his neck to see people and animals that looked to have simply dropped where they stood.

He shook off the spell before it could affect him, then cast a similar protection over Trevor and Sypha before reaching up to shake them both awake. Trevor snorted, breaking off mid-snore, and lifted his head blearily; Sypha came awake a little more quietly, but also more fully, and she rubbed at her face while Trevor was still coming around.

“Wh-what... happened here?” she asked, looking around.

“The spell was triggered,” And Adrian's voice was low, grim. “Anyone with enough warning and magic could have resisted falling under, but...”

“But most humans aren't that lucky,” she finished, hands working at the knots that bound her to both Trevor and the horse. “We should check the kitchens first to make sure no one is badly hurt by falling asleep in the middle of their duties.”

He wanted to protest, wanted to find and wake Anna up... but Sypha was already sliding off the horse, and Trevor, more awake and also untied, followed her. Adrian wavered briefly, then followed as well; Anna would never forgive him if people were hurt and he could have done something to help. She probably wouldn't forgive _herself_ if she realized that her sleep was the cause of it.

But who had caused her to _fall_ asleep?

The question plagued him as they went through the kitchen and the castle's lower levels, moving people away from open flames and sharp-edged weapons. Twice they had to put out fires where someone toppling over had hit a candle or a lantern onto something flammable... but through some stroke of luck, very few people were injured.

“If Anna's anywhere, it's probably up in the royal quarters,” Trevor said a little grimly. “It's the farthest back from any easy exit if I remember right; just a sheer drop until there's a tiny goat path, if that. Safest place for their majesties too, built farthest back in the mountain.”

Adrian was less convinced of that, but kept his mouth shut. If Anna wasn't there, he was quite willing to search the whole castle from top to bottom, and turn it inside out if he had to.

It took a few tries before they found the right room, Adrian brushing past the cobweb feeling of more spells impatiently; another faerie was here, to be certain, but they didn't have the power to pose a challenge to him, and these attempts at misdirection, subterfuge, and sleep were actively annoying.

The door glowed, even to non-magical sight; Trevor lifted a hand with a small wince, unable to look directly at it.

“What's _that_?” he demanded.

“A ward,” Adrian replied shortly.

“That is _not_ a ward,” the human knight protested.

“Not a ward as your wife would cast it, no,” Adrian agreed, glancing at Sypha who looked both intrigued and annoyed. “But then, Mistress Sypha's wards are meant to blend in, to _hide_. This ward is a blatant challenge to anyone who'd dare come here.”

He pulled his hand back, gathering power in his closed fist. Using magic like this was risky, a brute force tactic he didn't often enjoy employing. But if Anna was in this room, he wasn't going to let some flimsy ward stand in his way.

“Wait!” And Sypha caught his arm before he could throw the magic at the door. “What if she's not alone?”

Adrian hesitated, then slowly lowered his arm; there was a good chance that Anna would have been attended by people, a maid at the least, due to her status at the crown princess returned. Blowing the spell to pieces would also blow the door off its hinges... potentially causing harm to anyone else in the room.

“Step back and let me analyze the spell,” she encouraged gently. “It's faerie work, but ward spells don't differ all that much. Maybe I can find the weakness in this one.”

He pressed his lips together tightly, then sighed, and allowed himself to be pulled backwards. He had known Anna for three years, wanted to marry her and have a life with her. But Sypha and Trevor had _raised_ Anna. They saw her first steps, heard her first words. She was their daughter by choice, despite sharing not one bit of blood.

Trevor patted him lightly on the shoulder, sympathetically.

“I want to rush in too,” he said quietly. “Feels like we're missing something still, something that's going to come... bite us in the ass.”

“We're lucky we haven't been confronted by two factions of faerie soldiers yet,” Adrian admitted lowly. “My father may not have immediately anticipated this, but I know he's been keeping an eye on Carmilla's building forces...”

Trevor grimaced, shaking his head a little.

“All the more reason to get this over with quick, before someone decides to get enthusiastic.”

“Got it!” Sypha announced triumphantly. “Adrian, come here, and put magic into _this_ spot.”

Obediently, eagerly, Adrian returned to the door, and poured magic into the indicated node; the ward flared bright for a moment, then collapsed entirely, and he yanked the door open.

In retrospect, not the wisest of moves, but at the same time, when the magical attack flew forward from the open doorway, he was in the best position to shield against it. His defense was sloppy, and he heard Trevor swear sharply behind him, as the stone cracked around them. But the castle was built _of_ the mountain and while it groaned and cracked, the floor, ceiling, and walls held until Adrianw as able to shove his way through the spell, shattering it, and enter the room.

Sypha was at his heels, took one look at the person sitting calmly at the edge of the bed, and filled her hands with ice.

“Get away from my _daughter_,” she snapped.

“Ah. Ten you must be the sorceress and the knight I worked for so many years to find,” said the faerie as he stood.

Adrian blinked.

“...Quinn, what are you doing here?” he asked.

“You _know_ him?” Trevor asked sharply.

“He's part of my father's court,” Adrian replied, never taking his eyes off the other faerie. “He helped me track down the bandits that tried to kill me last summer, and he's the one responsible for that last addendum to Anna's curse.”

Quinn stood, then bowed slightly.

“Yes, the kiss of one who truly loves the princess shall awaken her,” and a thin smile crossed his pale face. “Not that I see anyone around who could lay claim to such a thing.”

Adrian stiffened slightly.

“_You_ did this,” he said lowly. “You brought Anna back here before the day was over, just so Carmilla could consummate the curse, didn't you?”

“Oh, well, yes,” and Quinn shrugged lightly, “but I have nothing to do with how she fell under the sleep herself. Seems the girl has a bit of a temper on her after all. I've been watching her for months now, never saw any hint of it. I'm... impressed, I admit. It did interfere a bit with the plans I had, you two deciding to vanish instead of taking her to the king's lodge, but...”

Quinn shrugged again. Adrian's fists clenched.

“With the royalty and nobility asleep, King Tepes and Countess Carmilla can pull this place apart quite easily. The country might be a bit _small_ by the time she wakes up and is.... amenable to ruling, but there's little to be done about that. No one _sensible_ stands between those two and their grudges.”

“I believe I told you to get away from my child,” Sypha said flatly.

Now Quinn scoffed slightly.

“As if you could break the curse,” and he shook his head slightly. “It was a ruse, a 'red herring' as you humans term it. As if I, an underling in the court of King Tepes, could _actually_ put an addition onto his changes...”

“You already tried to wake her and failed, didn't you?” Trevor asked, a sardonic smirk on his face. “You, who knows nothing about our girl, except maybe her birthday and her ability to find healthy plants buried under snow. You thought _that_ and admiration for her temper would be enough, didn't you?”

Quinn stiffened just slightly.

“Move,” Adrian said softly, his voice as icy a threat as what Sypha held in her hands. “Or you will _be_ moved.”

“Attack me, and you risk hitting your princess. Such a shame that would be, killed by the people who think to claim her as their own-”

Quinn's mockery was cut off mid-sentence as Adrian flashed forward, grabbing the other faerie by the collar and bodily throwing him out of the way. By the way he tumbled, it was clear that he hadn't expected Adrian to be half as fast, or strong, and he was actually thrown out the door, with Adrian following close behind.

“One of you try to undo the curse,” he called over his shoulder. “I'll handle this fool.”

Sypha and Trevor shared a look.

“....you go after him,” Sypha said after a moment. “Your iron will probably be of more help than my magic, at least for a little bit.”

Trevor hesitated, looking from Sypha to Anna, then sighed and nodded, bolting out of the room after Adrian and Quinn.

Sypha moved to side of the bed, looking down at the unconscious form of the young woman she'd raised for eighteen years. Was this how she would have looked, _could_ have looked, if there had been no curse? If Anna had been raised to this life...

Sypha pulled a handkerchief out of her pouch, found some water, and wiped the facepaint and powder from Anna's skin. Maybe at one time this was a thing that could have been, but even if Anna hated them now, even if she wanted nothing to do with her and Trevor or the younger children ever again, she didn't think Anna would accept a throne as compensation. Not this one, and not whatever Adrian might offer either.

When she could clearly see her daughter's face again, she planted a kiss on her forehead, took one still hand, and waited, heart jumping into her throat, to see if Anna's own theory would prove to be correct.

-

Adrian swore sharply as Trevor's sword nipped in from the side; while he wasn't as susceptible to iron as the full-blooded, a hit with it would still do sincere damage, still leave scars that took weeks to heal from at best. But at the same time, he couldn't fault the human for being proactive; Quinn was not making this fight easy. While Adrian could, and did, shield them both from the more malignant magics that Quinn was using, he was also still very young by faerie terms. He knew a _lot_, he had a great deal of power thanks to his sire, but that didn't necessarily make him _better_ than someone who had lived centuries.

And throwing power at a problem was rarely the way to _solve_ it. In that both his parents were in agreement. The trick was to use the power _wisely_, and find a way to keep the enemy off-balance while bolstering any allies... or at least keeping oneself intact.

The halls were narrow enough that it kept Trevor from being able to help too much; at best the corridors had been carved with the idea of two people walking in opposite directions. There was just enough space to fight, but not enough space to do it _well_. The problem was, any of the places where they could do it well also had the unconscious bodies of the other humans lying about.

They would make good hostages for Quinn, if they got that far. Which meant they had to pen him in somehow.

“Are you at _all_ familiar with the corridors here?” Adrian demanded of Trevor as Quinn managed to take shelter around a corner for a brief moment.

“No. I was a traveling knight, not a castle guard,” Trevor replied, shoving open a door and taking cover in the doorway as Quinn threw a wave of hostile magic at them.

Adrian blocked it with a small hiss, trying to filter what got beyond him; the last thing the humans in this castle deserved was to be made ill by Quinn's choice of spells.

“What are we doing, anyways?” And now it was Trevor who was being demanding. “Restraint or what?”

“If we restrain him, we can take him to my father and let _him_ deal with it,” Adrian said with a small, icy scowl. “But I won't stop you if you want to stab him first. If he's conspired with Carmilla for whatever reason, that's _treason_, and there's really only the one punishment for that.”

Trevor was silent for a few moments.

“Can sidepaths be accessed in here?”

Adrian blinked, and looked at him, startled, then shook his head.

“This whole mountain is riddled with iron. It dampens even a pureblood's powers.”

“So we have to keep him in the castle if we want to catch him. And we can't let him get to where there are _more_ people.”

Adrian nodded, admittedly a bit pleased that Trevor understood immediately why he wasn't trying to herd Quinn in the direction of a main hall, or the castle courtyard. Hells, if Quinn made it to the courtyard, he could make a clean escape, and _then_ who would answer for what all had taken place these past years?

“So, no objections to me pinning him like a bug on a card?”

Adrian blinked. Glanced sidelong at Trevor. Then shrugged.

“If you, _we_, can get up there, and you have the shot, I certainly won't be getting in the way,” he said after a moment, ablating a wave of fire into the nearby stone. “My only condition right now is that he _not_ get out of the mountain.”

“Got it. Let's see what we can do then...”

-

Anna groaned a little as she came around; she felt vaguely dizzy and sick, as though she'd eaten something bad the night before without realizing it. A familiar hand touched her head softly, and she registered a cool cloth across her forehead after a further moment. Soothing touches, familiar gestures.

Had everything been nothing more than one extremely vivid, bizarre dream? Had she just been ill, perhaps, and hallucinated the whole thing?

More sensation returned; the weight of unfamiliar clothing and adornments, an uncomfortable pull to her hair where it was pinned in a thousand different ways that weren't natural. The extreme softness of the blanket beneath one hand, the feel of heavy velvet beneath the other.

But that touch...

She opened her eyes slowly, uncertainly.

“...Ma?”

Sypha's smile was worried, hesitant even. Anna didn't hesitate; she shoved herself upright and threw her arms around her mother, burying her face in that familiar, linen-covered shoulder, and held on tight. Sypha's arms wrapped around her in turn, and even as Anna started to cry, she took comfort in the way her mother's hands rubbed her back in familiar circles.

-

“This is a _terrible_ plan,” Adrian pointed out again, grimacing a little as Quinn's magic once more splashed against his barrier.

“Do you have a better one?” Trevor shot back.

“....no. But if you get hurt, I'm going to have _two_ angry women after me. I don't exactly relish the idea.”

“Look, if iron's the only thing that can produce an immediate result, than it's what I'm going to do. _You_ just make sure that the nastier stuff he throws our way doesn't actually hit me!”

Adrian's grimace only grew as Trevor buckled the last of the armor on; he'd swiped it from one of the suits just standing around all decoratively in a niche, and it was most assuredly not sized for someone of his height and mass.

But the neutralizing power of the plate pieces he'd managed to get on would let him get close enough, theoretically, to let him end the fight, in whichever way he so chose.

Behind them both, a tide of magic fizzled, and abruptly went out, eliciting a soft curse from the other end of the hall. Adrian risked a glance over his shoulder, wondering if that meant the curse had been undone. Was Anna awake, did they _need_ to continue this fight?

After a moment he shook his head and refocused his attention; even if Anna _was_ awake, that didn't mean this fight was done. Quinn's treachery and trickery needed to be answered for, if not by the humans he had meant to harm, then by the people he had knowingly betrayed. It was almost _pleasing_ to think of what sorts of punishments his father might inflict on the other faerie once he learned of it.

The trick now, of course, was keeping his shield ahead of Trevor; the iron would mess with his magic as much as Quinn's, and the last thing he really wanted was for both Sypha _and_ Anna to have a reason to be upset with him.

-

“At first, your father was firmly on the side of not telling you at all, while I wanted to tell you everything,” Sypha admitted, stroking Anna's hair softly. “And then over the years we traded places, and we could never _agree_ on the right moment to even start telling you. After a while it just... seemed to stop _mattering_ quite as much. You may not be our child by blood, but we love you just the same as the other three. It was just... _knowing_ that you might decide to leave when you learned of it. Thinking...”

The sorceress went quiet for a moment, her grip briefly tightening.

“Thinking that the knowledge might _change_ you,” she admitted softly. “I don't doubt you'd be a wonderfully kind and generous ruler, if that's what you wanted, but.... I just don't see that life, _this_ life, being one that makes you happy. And.... well.... Maybe some of it is just reluctance to acknowledge that you've grown up, and are old enough, if not always wise enough, to make your own choices.”

Anna snugged her face against her mother's shoulder, letting the words drift over her and process slowly.

It hurt, oh, it hurt so much, that they had lied to her for eighteen years. Maybe not directly, but lies of omission were still lies, and they had let her believe she was their blood. Let her believe that she shared blood with Gabriel, Simon, and Marie, that she was a _Belmont_.

But...

Did it really matter that she wasn't a Belmont by blood? Would it matter to the sister and brothers who knew and loved her that she wasn't actually related to them when they loved her? Did it matter that much to _her_ to be connected by blood to the people who had raised and loved her, doing their best to both take care of her while still fulfilling oaths to king and crown?

What _made_ a family? It clearly wasn't blood, or rather, wasn't _just_ blood...

“....Ma?”

Sypha went still a little, then looked down into clouded green eyes. Uncertainty there, but also determination. Possibly even acceptance.

“....I'd really like to find Dad, and Adrian, and go home now...”

Sypha's smile was full of relief, and she nodded in agreement, getting to her feet.

“I think we should do that too. There's still a little time left to celebrate if we can be quick enough.”

-

Trevor rose from his crouch warily, staring down at the unconscious Quinn, and slowly shook out his hand. The asshole had taken four solid hits before he'd gone down, and Trevor was almost _positive_ that his skill was made of some sort of metal. And of course once he'd _gotten_ that close, Adrian's protections hadn't really been all that helpful; punching through Adrian's magic _and_ Quinn's had been part of what made putting him out so damn difficult. It had been like trying to punch through a tub of syrup.

“Is he out, then?” Adrian asked, slowly coming up behind the human.

“Yeah. Fairly sure. Could crack his head a few more times to make sure though,” Trevor offered.

“....nnno, I think we want him intact. Father will go up one side and down the other, and that's just to _start_. Better if he's as hale as he can be for that. I don't imagine it will be _short_.”

In fact, Adrian rather hoped it would be anything but, and if the sour look Trevor was directing at Quinn was any indication, he wasn't the only one.

“I can bind him with magic for now, but if you can find some iron chain, that would work until I can get him back to my father,” Adrian continued, weaving magic carefully as Trevor got to his feet and moved aside. “Less energy intensive, even if it will take us longer to reach the border.”

“...shouldn't go alone,” Trevor said a little gruffly. “Not saying you're not tough and all, but...”

“I think you and Lady Sypha may have damage control of your own that still needs doing,” Adrian pointed out, trying to pretend he wasn't slightly touched by the offer. “The gentle reveal you'd hoped for likely did not come to pass, and Anna-”

“Dad?”

Both men turned; there at the end of the hall, dressed like the princess of the blood that she was, stood Anna. Adrian half-smiled, then turned his attention back to the spell, wrapping the stasis tightly around Quinn and binding it as he'd been taught to keep the faerie out cold until such time as he chose to release the spell.

The whole process took a few minutes, so that by the time he was done, Sypha and Anna had joined them.

“...Trevor, what _are_ you wearing?” Sypha asked, raising an eyebrow at her husband as Adrian straightened.

“....armor,” Trevor replied a bit defensively.

“Do I want to know _why_ you're wearing armor?”

“Because iron ablates and neutralizes magic, so he put it on to get close enough to punch Quinn a few times in the face,” Adrian replied, allowing a small smirk to cross his face. “Quinn is now quite neutralized. Personally, I'd prefer him in iron chain, but...”

He shrugged slightly, then glanced over at Anna, who had her hands wrapped tightly in the fabric of a heavy-velvet dress. It suited the cooler air of this place, and the green of it was stunning, bringing out the hue of her eyes, and the reds in her hair...

Adrian gave himself a mental shake, taking in the uncertain, almost wary expression on her face.

“Is... is that it then?” she asked after a moment, looking between the three of them. “Curse fulfilled, curse broken, now we can... now _I_ can... go home?”

“Is that what you want?” Trevor asked, surprised. “To... to come back home?”

Anna nodded.

“It's.... maybe it's unfair of me to not really give this place, or my birth parents a chance, but... But I want to go home. I want to go back to my room, I want to know everything's where it's supposed to be, and that I can be _comfortable_.” Anan hugged herself briefly, then leaned against Sypha when the other woman hugged her gently. “And if they really want me back, I... suppose I could visit, but this... It... I don't _like_ it. It doesn't... it's not _me...”_

She made a slight gesture, and Adrian elected to keep his mouth closed on the comment that wanted to slip out. In his personal opinion, the clothing and jewelry suited her just fine; it looked good on her, even if it didn't necessarily look like it fit comfortably. But he understood that it was more than just the look, it was the expectations that came with it that she didn't want.

“Well then,” and he offered her his hand, smiling gently. “Perhaps we should get you home before the rest-”

“Halt! Who are you and what are you doing in the royal wing?!”

He sighed. Of course the sleeping spell had broken when Anna woke up.

-

“-and you haven't even _tried!_” the queen sniffled, dabbing at her cheeks with a handkerchief to catch the tears dripping down her face. “After eighteen years, you're not even going to give us a _chance?_”

Anna swallowed hard, and felt Adrian's hand on her shoulder tighten, his arm a comforting and necessary weight to keep her from being bullied into a choice she didn't want. The king and queen had refused to let Trevor and Sypha be part of the meeting, but they'd had less luck in keeping Adrian out, and thusly he was able to help her stay steady.

“No. I'm not. Look, you had the best of intentions, I understand that. But I don't belong here. I don't like the way the ceiling feels over my head, I don't like the coolness of the stone. These clothes don't let me move _or_ breathe. I need to be in the forest, feel the air, see the trees. I need to be with the people who raised me, who know and love me. I'm... sorry I can't be what you want, but...”

Anna curled her fingers a little in Adrian's jacket, tense and unhappy. She would be leaving no matter what the king and queen said, but she owed it to them to at least _try_ to make it civil. They had meant well, but the execution...

The queen fell onto one of the padded chairs and sobbed into her handkerchief, but the king only sighed.

“Well then... that seems to be it, doesn't it?” he asked gruffly, eyeing her warily. “You want nothing from us, no titles or lands, no... monetary gifts?”

Anna hesitated.

“I wouldn't know what to do with those things,” she admitted finally. “But if you gout get Dad back the estate he misses...”

The king nodded, and waved brusquely at the two of them.

“Dismissed.”

-

“How long will you be away?” Anna asked, looking up at Adrian worriedly.

“Well, since there were no available iron chains, I can take the sidepaths. Probably no more than a handful of days,” he replied, offering her a gentle smile. “I'll have to explain what happened to my father, that's probably going to take the longest amount of time. A fortnight at most, I should think.”

Anna gave him a skeptical look, and he kissed her forehead.

“I have the speaking mirror your mother made,” he reminded her. “If I'm going to be longer, I'll let you know. I'll try and contact you every night I can, all right?”

“You'd better,” she huffed a little. “Ma still needs you to stay for a few days so she can expand and reconstruct the wards.”

Adrian chuckled a little.

“I'm rather looking forward to building a small place just for you and I,” he murmured, nuzzling at her temple gently. “Though I expect your father will be the one most amused by my fumblings.”

Anna giggled a little, then caught her breath slightly as he bent down and kissed her gently.

“And we can finish this business of marriage too~” he continued, giving her lower lip a gentle nip. “Sign what needs to be signed, and celebrate however you want.”

She blushed, and half-hid her face against his chest, making him chuckle again, cuddling her close.

“Love you,” she murmured.

“I love you too,” he replied, nuzzling at her temple gently. “And the sooner I leave, the sooner I can come back and show you just how much.”

End


	2. Anna and the Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being kidnapped from her 14th birthday, Princess Anna ends up in a tower guarded by a dragon named Alucard. While initially afraid, Anna is first required to stay, then requests it, and Alucard accepts her as the tower's new tenant. With the intervention of fellow dragon Trevor, and the mage Sypha, Anna not only finds freedom from her role, she finds peace, happiness, and love.
> 
> Of course, nothing good can last forever...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a post on tumblr that tells a story about a princess in a tower, guarded by a dragon, only to one day be removed from it against her will, and thus her dragon ends up coming to her court in human form.
> 
> I maaaaay have gone a bit off the rails of that post, but that was where the idea came from. Enjoy!

Anna and the Dragon

It was her fourteenth birthday. It should have been a good day, a day of celebration, of freedom from rules, responsibilities, a chance to _play_ for a little while before she had to go back to being a proper princess always on display. True, Anna couldn't claim any of the people she was celebrating with as her _friends,_ but they were her peers at the very least, and her mother had been hinting very strongly that she ought to start looking at them as something more.

And it had started very well indeed! The sky had been cloudless and blue, the park where the celebration was to take place had been decorated lavishly, with chefs and buffets galore, and a raised floor where they would do dancing in the evening.

Well... where they _would_ have done dancing in the evening if the party hadn't been interrupted.

She leaned her head against the wooden wall of the enclosed wagon, hugging her knees to her chest as she tried not to start crying again. She should have picked a park in the heart of the city like her father had suggested, but she had wanted something wilder, something not fenced in. She had wanted, just for a little bit, to remember what it was to be a little girl again, not one who had crossed the threshold of adulthood, and would soon be married off, regardless of her youth.

The bandits had swarmed out of the forest while everyone was in the middle of games; they had pushed, shoved, and fought the guards who hadn't been prepared for them. Anna had caught a flash of crimson before one of the bandits had caught her, thrown a bag over her head, and bodily thrown her over their shoulder.

Not even enough time to scream as other guests had.

How many people had died?

Anna closed her eyes and whimpered a little as the wagon hit a hard bump.

She'd had her hands tied together before being tossed alone in this wooden box on wheels, and though the bag had been removed, she hadn't seen much before the door had been shut in her face. The wagon's movements had been rapid and abrupt enough at first that sitting had been as much involuntary as sensible.

She could still hear hoof-beats outside, though she wondered how many horses had dropped back at this point; when the wagon had started, there had been several to either side, and behind as well, but the longer they traveled, the fewer she heard.

The wagon halted abruptly, and Anna could hear muffled voices outside; they sounded like they were arguing about something... She wanted to jump to her feet, to run to the door and pound on it, scream herself hoarse. Demand to be let out, to be taken back home where even if she wasn't always _happy_, at least she understood how things _worked_.

But she also half-hoped that if she remained quiet, remained obedient and silent, these people who had kidnapped her would leave her unmolested. They would just ask for a ransom, wouldn't lay a finger on her in any manner that wasn't moving her from one holding place to the next.

When the wagon lurched on, she almost bit her tongue at the unexpected change in angle, one that left her bracing herself backwards, and her mouth drying a little more with fear.

She had an odd relationship with heights; she could go up, and when she was up, there was no better feeling in the world. But if she looked down, well, that delight became panic, and she froze where she was. If they were going up, there was a good chance they were closer to the border than she'd expected they could get, and if they got much _farther_...

Anna buried her face in her knees again, and tried not to panic.

-

The wagon had not stopped for much; once to let her out so that she could relieve herself, before she was given some food and water, then tossed back in with a few blankets and pillows before the door was barred again. It had set out the moment the door was barred, leaving Anna once more in the dark... but at least she was slightly more comfortable.

She wasn't sure how she'd managed to fall asleep, but she had. She woke to the steady drumming of rain, the cranky rocking of the cart, and the occasional sound from the left that made her shudder; pebbles sliding down the side of a hill.

She huddled into the blankets, feeling stiff, sore, and miserable. Normally, she liked the rain, but rain and unstable paths...

As if conjured by her thoughts, the cart abruptly lurched to one side, much to the vehement swearing of the driver and the riders behind. Anna scrambled to the opposite side, trying to shift the weight enough to keep it on the path, and after a moment—and several more people's efforts—the wagon slowly resettled on the road.

She let out a very soft breath, and that was when the lightning struck.

Oh, it didn't hit her, nor the wagon, but she heard it hit something; the next thing she heard was panicking horses, and the cart moved so abruptly that she fell, hard. Unable to catch herself, her head bounced hard against the floor, and she laid there in a dazed heap as the violent rocking grew worse.

There was a crack, and then the whole wagon lurched to the side again. Only this time, there was no helpful followers to yank it back onto the path. Anna's involuntary, terrified shriek was echoed by the horses as the wagon tumbled over the edge of the cliff.

-

When she came to, _everything_ hurt.

Rain pattered haphazardly down on her face as she slowly opened her eyes, and even more slowly turned her head to try and figure our what had happened. The wagon lay in shambles; how she had survived she wasn't entirely sure, but survive she had.

The rain dripped sharply from the branches overhead, wind cutting through her summerweight gown like a knife. Painfully she rolled out from under the remnants of the wall that had landed on her, finding one of the blankets that had been for her use, and clumsily pulling it over her head as a makeshift cloak.

Lightning cracked nearby and she flinched as it illuminated the sight of the poor, dead horses. They hadn't asked to do this any more than she'd asked to be kidnapped.... and they had died for it. She wanted to sit there and weep, feeling the pain of bruises and worse, but another crack of lightning made her rethink that idea quickly.

If she stayed put, she'd just be captured again when the kidnappers came to find their wagon. Or worse, when the denizens of the forest came to inspect the dead bodies of the horses—she hadn't seen any sign of the driver, but she doubted he'd survived the fall—they might decide she was food too. If nothing else, she needed to find shelter; while forests weren't exactly known for housing villages, there was a chance that maybe she could find a hunting lodge, or even a hermit who would be kind enough to take her in for the night. All else failed, well, sleeping in a cave wouldn't be _pleasant_, but anything was better than being out in the mercy of the elements.

It took her several tries to get to her feet; one ankle didn't want to really hold her weight, but there wasn't much other choice if she wanted to get away. Her ribs ached, and her head too, and she wished unhappily for a soak in the palace hot springs, and a healer's kind attention. Heck, she'd even take _grumpy_ attention if it meant she stopped _hurting_.

Slowly, painfully, Anna limped her way deeper into the forest as the rain continued.

She'd always been good in a forest. She liked trees and plants, and had always been able to tell what was safe to eat and what wasn't. It hadn't necessarily been an _encouraged_ skill for the kingdom's sole princess to learn, but some of her tutors had been sneaky enough that she'd learned anyways.

So when she realized that the trees were laid out almost suspiciously straight, despite the amount of things growing between, she decided to follow the path and see where it lead her.

Where it lead her was a wide, circular clearing, full of overgrown garden beds. At one time they might have grown flowers, herbs, or vegetables, but now they were a riot of weeds, saplings, rocks, and who knew what else. Only the fact that the beds were separated by a few feet kept the tangle from being impossible to get through.

A short tower was stuck somewhat in the middle, maybe four storeys high at best. It looked... Well, from what she could _see_ it looked intact. As long as it was mostly dry inside, well, it would do. If it had an owner, someone who could help her, that would be even better.

So she limped eagerly forward, and banged on the solid wooden door.

“Hello? Hello, is anyone in there? Can you help me, please? I'm lost!”

A thread of warning prodded at her; hermit mages often took up residence in towers like this, and they almost never responded well to unexpected intrusions... but for once she didn't have the energy to care if she upset someone. She was soaking wet, bleeding, and just wanted to take shelter for the night. Surely one night wouldn't upset the tower owner... if they were even _there._

The door creaked open when she banged on it again with her bruised palms, and she staggered in, soaked and shivering.

“H-hello?” she called. “E... Ex-c-cuse me, is.. is anyone h-here?”

She couldn't see far in the gloom; just enough to make out some dim shapes of furniture. After a moment, her eyes adjusted enough that she was able to make out a dim glow from another doorway, and she squelched her way across the room into what looked like a kitchen with a banked fire.

It wasn't perfect, there wasn't anyone bustling around to make much of her, but Anna squared her shaking shoulders after a minute, and managed to fumble some wood from a nearby box onto the coals until the fire was crackling softly. When the fire was built, she sat on the hearth before it as all of her useful energy abruptly vanished.

She managed to pull the blanket off her head and fold it into an awkward pillow, then huddled on the hearth and closed her eyes. Maybe by the time she woke up, someone would be there who could help her.

-

Alucard loved flying through the storms when they had teeth. Dancing among the drops of rain, darting around the lightning strikes or taking the hits and letting it tingle over his scales. He was a dragon born of such storms, the lightning was little danger to him. The wind buffeted him playfully, and he turned it into a fun and fearsome dance.

While he didn't necessarily enjoy leaving the tower unguarded, it _had_ been good to see how the lands had changed since his last journey. Small villages had expanded to towns, some to cities, while others had dwindled until no one was left, silent markers of how humans could thrive or falter without any help whatsoever.

Oh, many of them were still war-mongers, still expansioners looking to take lands and remove peoples that didn't fit their idea of who or what should live there, but humans were a mixed bag of greed and generosity anyways. As long as they stayed out of his woods, away from his tower, as long as they did not threaten what he protected, he was content to leave them to their nonsense.

He ducked down out of the clouds, into the driving rain and spiraled above the tower carefully, checking the surrounding area for potential threats before slowly starting his descent. The last thing he wanted was for some obnoxious adventurers, or knights looking to make names for themselves to attack him.

Not that it would be the first time...

But from above he could see nothing out of the ordinary. Oh, there seemed to be _some_ sort of commotion on the edge of the forest—if looked like the aftermath of a rockslide again—but that was not his business.

He landed with a ground-rattling thump, and shook himself lightly to be rid of the extra electrical discharge. The energy swirled briefly, then sank into the stones of the tower, giving renewed life and energy to the multitude of spells that kept it whole and intact, simply waiting for one of his old friend's kin to come and find it.

In that light, Alucard caught sight of a deeper shadow; lowing his great head, he realized that the door had been opened... and left that way. A growl rose in his throat; someone _dared_ trespass on the tower and grounds he claimed? That would _not_ do.

But he wasn't going to stick his muzzle in the doorway and blow; for one thing, that would crisp everything in the tower he'd been preserving. For another, there was a chance that this intruder was on one of the other floors, and frying to first floor wouldn't do a thing except warn them that there was a dragon about. And for a third, there was a slight chance that this was one of his friend's descendants, having finally found their way to the tower.

He grumbled a little, and shook himself again, shedding water as he shed the dragon's body. It was annoying, having to be in human form to get into the tower, but his friend's spells had been very particular on that. The tower was made for humans, therefore the only way in was to have a human form.

Once situated in the somewhat discomforting skin—he hadn't worn this form since his friend's passing, and it brought a tide of uncomfortable memories with it—Alucard entered the tower, snapping his fingers sharply to activate the glow-globes that would shed light throughout the interior. Water dripped onto the floor where he stood, but it was the half-dried puddles that lead to the kitchen, and the blood mixed in them, that gave him pause, and forced him to remember the _other_ rules for entering the tower.

He muttered a little under his breath, then carefully made his way towards the kitchen, where the light of glow-globes was being supplemented by the more natural, flickering light of a fire. In the doorway he stopped and squinted a little at the small form huddled on the hearth. Human, definitely. Human nobility judging by the fine make of her clothes and the jewelry she wore. True, the gown was torn and muddy, but it was still far higher quality than most ordinary people could afford.

_Young_ human nobility, he realized as the girl on the hearth shifted, sneezed, then settled again. He wasn't the best at judging human ages, hadn't spend enough time around them to know much of that particular distinction, but there wasn't much chance she was old enough to be out on her own. Humans had rules and restrictions for their girl-children that vastly outstripped the boy-children, and it was even more important for a girl-noble to be protected.

So how had she turned up _here_, in this state?

After a moment he sighed a little, pushing the question away. She looked hurt, and even with the fire, sleeping _here_ wasn't going to help her recover. He would tend to her wounds, then, and put her into a bed.

“Open up a room on the third floor,” he ordered the tower as he moved to check the small human over. “Build a fire, warm a bed, and put the supplies I'll need there.”

There was a shivery feeling to the air as the tower responded, and he reached out to carefully prod the girl, knowing the magic would do everything he wanted, and then some. That was how the tower _worked_ after all.

The girl groaned a little at his touch, curling a little more into a ball, and he realized her hands were bound, wrists rubbed raw by the leather. He stared for a moment, wondering just what had happened to her, then flicked his finger, calling forth a claw that allowed him to cut the bindings from her wrists. That earned him a small, pained hissed, but otherwise the girl didn't seem inclined to wake.

After a studying her a moment more, he carefully picked her up and headed for the stairs. Hopefully she would forgive the further damage he was going to do to the clothing, since leaving her in the wet things would probably do more harm than putting her in something dry.

The third floor room was opened and ready as he'd demanded, with various potions, poultices, and other things on a worktable that hadn't been part of the original décor. He eyed the set up, then put the girl first on a small cot to get her out of the wet clothes. Stripping her down revealed further bruising that made him wonder if this was a human family problem, or if she'd been injured in some other manner. The bindings argued that she had certainly been in over her head, but the injuries were so mismatched he found himself a little worried as well as fiercely curious.

The amount of damaged ribs was more than a _little_ worrying, though there wasn't much he could do for those except put a numbing paste over her skin. The ankle was more troublesome; the bones there were decidedly broken, but judging by the fact that she had made it to the tower, she had obviously walked on it. That was going to make the healing difficult.

He straightened it to the best of his abilities, splinted and bound it up, and resigned himself to the fact that this girl was not going to be leaving the tower any time soon. At least, not on her own two feet.

“Medicinal tea when she wakes,” he told the tower. “Then foods that are soft and filling. A change of clothes for now. Put sturdy rails where there are steps, and make some of them into easy ramps so she doesn't run the risk of falling; also, give me parchment and ink.”

The air quivered slightly in acknowledgment, and he returned to tending the rest of her injuries. When he finished, he dressed her in the clothes the tower provided and tucked her into the proper bed; she would, if he was any judge, sleep this night through, and possibly well into the morning. Good. That would give him time to scour the surrounding area and see what had put a noble girl-child in the way of his tower.

Before leaving the room, he uncapped the ink, and wrote on the parchment.

-

It wasn't really dawn when she finally woke up; judging by the light filtering in from the window, it was much closer to noon. Anna lifted her head muzzily, wondering briefly why no one had woken her up for her lessons, then laid her head back down when that proved to be too painful a position to maintain.

Her head felt like it was full of wool, thoughts coming in fits and spurts after a struggle. It was tempting to roll over—clearly she was sick and being allowed to rest—and go back to sleep, but something nagged at her. Something was off, something was _wrong, _something was....

Her eyes flew open and she pushed herself upright. In hindsight, not the wisest move as laying still had been the only reason her body hadn't been actively screaming at her. She whimpered a little, gasped for breath as the pain hit her, and hunched into a small ball, just trying to breathe.

There was a strange twist to the air, and she registered a small clunk that sounded like... well, like a mug being put onto a wooden table. When she managed to uncurl a little, enough to look to the side, she found a mug sitting on a bedside table, steaming gently. It took her a couple of tries before she could pick the mug up; it smelled of herbs and green things, things she vaguely recognized that would ease the pain. She sipped slowly, needing both hands to hold the mug steady, and managed to keep from spilling with some effort.

The pain rapidly faded to something manageable, and she looked around uncertainly, wondering if maybe there was someone there, waiting to be acknowledged. She owed them thanks for certain, for tending her injuries and putting her in a proper bed, in a proper room, even.

But the room was empty of people.

When the mug was drained, Anna carefully set it back on the table, and tentatively pushed the blankets back; she didn't necessarily _want_ to get up, but if someone was here, she needed to thank them at the very least.

There was a faint clunk as she gingerly swung her legs to the side; peering down, she saw a long staff on the floor, and brightened. That would make it easier to walk without putting weight on her bad foot.

When she looked back up, she jumped; there was a covered tray on a table and a stool that most _certainly_ hadn't been there before...

“Ah... h... hello?” she asked tentatively. “Is... um.. is someone there?”

Silence... but there was also the oddest feeling in the air, like _something_ was listening. After a long, uncertain moment, Anna carefully picked up the staff and used it to stand, then hobbled her way over to the tabled. To one side of the tray was a rolled up piece of parchment, and curiously, she reached out to see what it might say.

_There is a dragon who guards this place. His name is Alucard. He will not harm you, so please do not scream your high-pitched, human screams when you see him. Tell him your story once you have eaten._

Anna read the note several times, then swallowed hard. Most dragons kept to themselves, refusing to have much to do with humanity. Not that she could blame them; before the dragons had made treaties _with_ humans, they had been regarded as vicious beasts, barely smarter than a horse, who stole livestock and terrorized the villagers. It had only been in the past three centuries that people had learned they were just as sentient as humans, and while some would happily do every bad thing expected, others just wanted their space.

Hopefully, he wouldn't be inclined to eat her. Maybe if she apologized for intruding first...? With any luck, he might be willing to set her down near a town where she could get into contact with her parents, and wait for a rescue party.

So she settled onto the stool and lifted the cover from the tray. She hadn't really known what to expect, but it was not the startling arrangement of eggs, bread with jam, bacon, and what looked like a bowl of oatmeal studded with berries. After a moment she looked up again, feeling a bit bewildered, wishing there was someone around she could _speak_ to.

“...thank you?” she offered tentatively to the still listening air.

The weighty feeling of being watched faded, and after another moment, Anna started to eat.

-

She _was_ a tiny thing, he noted, not bothering to lift his head as the human came limping out of the tower. She froze when she saw him, and that certainly was a fair reaction, but to his profound relief, while she went very pale, she didn't shriek like some rabbit being mauled by a fox. She even, to his amusement, attempted to curtsy.

Small, terrified human girl, showing him respect? Well, that was certainly something else. Even with the note he'd left, he hadn't been certain she'd be the polite sort of human.

“Don't fall over,” he advised. “In your current state, getting back up will be difficult.”

She nodded a bit jerkily, green eyes wide and filled with a myriad of emotions that he couldn't quite name; he could certainly taste most of them though, and fear was predominant. Fear, and panic, and pain. He couldn't blame her for any of them; before his friend had become his friend, he had also been afraid. And given the state of her injuries, pain was entirely too understandable.

“So. Little human. What is your name?”

“Ah... A-Anna.” She hesitated, then tried to curtsy again. He shifted slightly when she wobbled, wanting to brace her up, and stifled a wince as she jerked back upright with more haste than could have been comfortable. “That is, I'm... Princess Marianna of Ederia, and I... th-thank you for the hospitality you have given me.”

Her voice was tiny and wobbling, but he had to give her credit for being able to speak at all. After a moment he pointed slightly to a bench he'd managed to unearth from the remains of the garden; it was stone, and padded with pillows he'd taken from the tower's interior, and he'd found another slab for her to rest her foot on..

“You should sit. Your injuries are many, and grievous,” he said gravely.

Again she flinched, but when he made no other moves, she hobbled over to the bench and sank down onto the pillows with clear gratitude, placing her foot on the slab with a small sigh of relief. It went quite a ways towards salving his irritation at having an unexpected intruder. He waited for her to settle before speaking again, keeping his voice calm and quiet.

“So then, Princess Marianna of Ederia, what has brought you in such a state, to this place?”

He watched her curiously as she bit her lip a little, looking quite ready to cry. Something had terrified and traumatized this human child... would she tell him the truth, or give him a lie?

“I... it... a few days ago, I think, it was my... my birthday. And we were celebrating at one of the less tamed parks. I.. I like the wildness, and it-” she cut herself off, curling her hands into the skirt the tower had plainly provided her. “Some... some people came. They attacked the guests, and grabbed me. I... I don't know where they were taking me, but we were on a mountain path when it began to rain really hard, and... a-and the horses slipped, and the wagon rolled-”

Alucard lifted his head slightly, and she fell silent immediately; the rockslide at the edge of the forest, perhaps?

“Continue,” he suggested, keeping his voice gentle.

“I... It...” she swallowed, and shook her head a little, carefully. “It rolled into the forest, and I... I didn't want to just... to just wait and see if the people who h-had... kidnapped me would come down and try to f-find me. I didn't mean to.. to trespass, I was just.. l-looking for a place to w-wait out the storm.”

Well, that explained more than enough about why the tower had let her in; princess, running scared from people who had kidnapped her, almost dying in the fall. The magic of the tower often had a mind of its own, enough to decide who it did and did not want to allow inside.

“Um... did... does someone else... live here?” she asked tentatively. “I... I wanted to... to thank them for tending my injuries, and letting me... putting me in a bed.”

“...you thanks will be passed on,” he said after a moment. No point in letting her know just yet that he could shapeshift, not when she was still this badly rattled.

“Ah... okay...”

She looked disappointed, and he couldn't exactly blame her, but in no way was he about to tell this girl that _he_ had done the tending she'd needed. After a moment, she let out a small breath and looked up at him again.

“S...sir Alucard?”

“...just Alucard is fine, princess,” he said, fighting a smile. He was fairly sure the sight of a dragon grin would send her into a dead faint, and that would be mildly troublesome.

“Ah.. ok-kay.. Um. Is... I mean, I don't want to impose, but... That is, I... I mean, I was hoping...”

She fell silent as he lifted his head a little more, then squeaked as he stretched his neck up to his full height. He could hear for a long ways, and though he'd been trying to ignore it, the sounds of people shouting her name could not be ignored for very long. The question was, were they ally or enemy?

“...can you describe those who kidnapped you from your party, princess?”

“N... not really,” she admitted with clear regret. “They wore... black and gray, and had hoods on. Some wore armor and carried weapons like soldiers, but...”

He nodded a little, then pointed to the door.

“There are intruders in my forest. They may be looking for you. I would recommend you get inside where it is safe. I will return shortly.”

She swallowed hard, then nodded.

“The tower will guard you,” he said as she used the staff to pull herself upright. “If you need anything of it, simply speak your request to the air and wait. You will either be guided to it, or it will be given to you. Stay here until I return.”

Anna nodded again, and limped her way back into the tower, closing the door tightly behind her. Only when he felt the tower's magic engage, sealing the door against hostile intruders, did he unwind from the base and head off into the trees.

-

She watched him go from a ground floor window, then staggered over to a padded chair and sank into it, shivering and panting. Oh, he had been perfectly polite, but _stars_ he was large. All those teeth, and those _claws_...

She closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands. When she heard a faint clunk she parted her fingers slightly; there before her was a small table, almost delicate in comparison to the rest of the weighty furniture, that held a tray of small cakes, a teapot, and a teacup full of tea. There was even honey for sweetener.

Gingerly she reached forward, almost certain that it would vanish in a puff of smoke like the illusions the court magicians could conjure. But the small cakes were real, and the tea was just hot enough to be comforting without being scalding.

“...thank you,” she said timidly.

She wouldn't have thought she'd be hungry after so short a time since the breakfast, but apparently fear had burned through that meal, because she ate most of the cakes and drank half the pot of tea before she felt calm again.

“...I don't think I'm made for adventures,” she mumbled a little mournfully, cradling the teacup gently in her hands. “I just want to go home...”

She caught a sense of... sympathy, almost, from the air, then squeaked in surprise as a soft blanket fell on her head. It felt warm, as though it had spent some time out in the sun, or before the fire, and she managed a weak giggle as she tucked it around herself.

“Thank you....”

She settled back into the chair and half-closed her eyes; what was Alucard going to do about the intruders? Were they the people who had kidnapped her, or were they her father's people, scouring the area _for_ her?

Maybe she ought to have volunteered to go with him, but... that would have been rude. He was as articulate as any human she'd met—moreso in some cases, she was willing to bet—and asking to ride on his back as though he was some sort of oversized horse was probably _not_ the way to get him to tolerate her. And she was a liability at that; injured and unable to do anything, she would only have gotten in the way if whoever he was investigating decided attacking a dragon was the wise move.

She tugged the blanket around herself a little more securely, and tried not to cry. Surely a being of his size would be more than capable of handling himself if soldiers attacked him, and maybe they'd be willing to listen to him if he spoke to them. But she couldn't help being scared; this tower was more magic than anything she'd ever dealt with before, and finding out it was owned by a dragon was almost too much for her.

And yet...

He was a polite dragon. Or. Well. He _seemed_ polite anyways. When informed of her title, he'd used it instead of her name. He'd informed her of the bench and made no moves that could really be called _threatening_, despite her inability to keep from jumping every time he'd twitched. And now he was out making sure that whoever _else_ was out there wasn't looking to harm her.

Hopefully he would be safe...

Anna shook her head carefully after a moment, and looked up at the ceiling. He'd _said_ to just ask the tower for what she needed, and right now what she needed was a hot bath. She'd have to prop her leg up on something, and try to rewrap all the bandages after, but... well, it would be soothing. She _badly_ needed to be soothed.

“I... if it's possible.. could I have a bath? Maybe... scented with vanilla?”

There was a weighty sense to the air, and then a little green light appeared at one end of the room, bobbing in place. Apparently this time, she was going to be shown where to go.

With care, Anna got to her feet, and hobbled in the direction of the light.

-

Alucard had never felt more insulted or disgusted in his life. A _pretend_ kidnapping?! So that they could... what, arrange a rescue and make the girl feel _indebted_ to the person who 'rescued' her and brought her home?

He'd known humans could do some decidedly mad things, but this was just downright _insulting_. Where in the mountains had those idiots even been planning to _take_ her? There were few enough towns at this end of the border, none of them situated in the mountains! Had the idea been to just cart her around for a few days, leaving a clear trail, then set up an all-too-obvious camp for the 'rescuers' to storm?

It had taken all of his control to keep from eating the 'kidnappers' he'd found who'd babbled the information at him, and he was _heavily_ inclined towards doing it anyways, just to avoid a conflict of interests. Snarlingly informing them that they were the only humans in the forest didn't feel like _enough_.

Annoyed with himself, and needing more information, Alucard spent several days making his way from town to town, listening in human form to rumors about the whole affair. Mostly the common folk seemed sorry for the princess being kidnapped, as unawares as Anna had been that it was only a ruse, a lie that would add spice to... to what? From everything he'd heard the girl was _fourteen_. Nowhere _near_ the human equivalent of adulthood, why would someone arrange a fake kidnapping for a _child_? To arrange a human marriage to her rescuer, whether the girl liked it or not?

That idea made him snort fire where no one could see. Humans were such nonsensical creatures at times.

Initially upon reaching the palace, he'd been pleased to see the lengths the king and queen were going to in their efforts to find their missing child... right up until he overheard an argument between them about the queen's unilateral decision to stage the kidnapping without telling anyone. It had taken a great deal of self control to simply leave the grounds before he lost his temper.

He was going to have to inform the princess that what she'd thought was not what was true... and hope that she believed him.

-

The tower was actually not a terrible place to stay, though it was dreadfully lonely after the first couple of days. Anna had never been in a place where she hadn't been able to hear servants bustling about at all hours, little yappy dogs barking at other little yappy dogs, or the sounds of the city just beyond the high walls of the palace. Not to say that she didn't like hearing birdsong, and the comforting crackle of fire, but.... well, she just wasn't _used_ to complete solitude like this.

So when she heard an odd noise that came closer and closer, she stuck her head out the window and watched in awe—and yes, a little fear, she'd forgotten how _big_ he was—as Alucard landed outside the tower. As she was on the third floor, he leaned back a little on his haunches, until his head was level with the window, and she was starting into golden eyes that were half as large as she was.

“Princess,” and he even dipped his head slightly as if bowing. “My apologies for being away for so long. I had to track down some... information I thought you might want to have about the incident.”

“You... you know what happened?” Anna's heart jumped into her throat. “Please, is.. are the guests all right, are my parents okay?”

She got the sense that the questions had surprised him, but she hadn't had much else to think about while he'd been away; she remembered that flash of crimson before the hood had been thrown over her head, and...

“Your party goers were unharmed.... it was all pretend.”

She blinked.

“I.... beg your pardon?”

“It was fake,” he replied, his voice surprisingly gentle. “The queen arranged for a false kidnapping as some sort of... festivity. She was planning to ensure a few specific members of your tiers of nobility knew where you ended up, and they would race to your rescue. Whoever was there first, they were to become your betrothed.”

Anna blinked again, her fingers tightening unconsciously on the windowsill. Her _mother_ had planned this?

“From what I was able to glean, your mother's bloodline has this... odd idea that kidnapping is the optimal way to select your spouse,” he continued, his voice taking on a disgusted undertone. “She is remorseful _now_, of course, but I would not put it past her to arrange such a thing again if you were to return to your palace.”

“I... bu...”

She clung to the windowsill now, legs shaking. Oh, she had heard the stories, certainly. Her three-times great grandmother had actually been a dragon's prisoner for a while, and had been wedded to the knight that had rescued her. Her twice-grandmother had been captured by pirates.... and eventually married the pirate, once she'd 'civilized' him enough to bring back to the kingdom. Her great grandmother, and grandmother both had been captured by bandits, and held in an abandoned keep, and an old fort respectively. Her own mother had been trapped in a tower, not unlike this one, for two years.

But they had all been... well, _accidental_.

Hadn't they?

“....princess. You need to sit down before you collapse. If you could push the other side of the window open, we can continue to talk while you.... rest.”

Alucard's voice, gentle, soft, close, snapped her out of the panicked swirl of thoughts. Her head came up and then she obediently nodded, pushed the other half of the window wide, and turned. Not more than two paces from her was a thickly padded chair, and a soft blanket she could wrap herself up in.

As she did both, Alucard's chin came to rest on the wide sill, and those golden eyes regarded her carefully.

“There are a few ways to go about taking care of this,” he said quietly once she was situated. Seeing her go almost ghost-pale had been worrying, considering she wasn't anywhere near recovered enough for a fall. “If you'd like to go along with her... plan, I can find you a place where you can be rescued from, and then let the right people know you've been seen.”

That made her shudder a little, and he saw pain and fear on her face. Who, he wondered, was she thinking about when he made that suggestion?

“Or.... if you'd like, you can stay here until you're ready to go back on your own. The tower is magical, as I'm sure you've noticed by now. You don't need to worry about meals, or making things unless you wish it, and I know the library is quite... extensive. You would... have to get used to my presence, as I do not intend to _leave_, but along that line, I am willing to offer to you my protection, until such time comes as you would not want it any longer.”

“I... would... would that be... I mean...”

Some color had returned to her cheeks, at least. That was an improvement, even if the stammering had returned. It made him wonder just how often she was given a choice, given the _chance_ to voice her own opinion of something.

Instead of interrupting, he waited patiently, watching as she closed her mouth, briefly covering her face with both hands.

“...you're... sure it's okay if I... if I say I would like to stay?” she finally asked, her voice small and tremulous.

“It has been a long time since there has been a human inside these walls,” he replied. “And everything I've heard about you suggests that you are not the sort of human that would abuse the tower's hospitality, or my own. If you would like to stay, you may stay. And when you wish to leave, I will bring you to the nearest human town and you can go back to that life.”

“C... c-can I... think about it for a bit?”

“Yes. I will be out here when you are ready to decide.”

Alucard pulled his head out of the window and gave it a small shake, then lowered himself properly to the ground. He was going to have to check the local deer herds in a couple of days; so much flying around and changing forms had left him somewhat bereft of energy, but he could wait for a while as she considered her options.

In truth, he felt _sorry_ for her. Having told her the truth, he wondered if she'd ever find it in her to trust her mother again. Of course, she could decide that he'd made it all up and insist he take her to a town, but from the way she'd reacted, he thought she might have some experience with her mother doing.... well, _odd things_ like this before.

Sounds drifted down from the open window that made him cringe a little; the girl was crying, and it was, in part, his fault. But he couldn't offer her comfort when he barely knew her, so he simply wrapped himself around the base of the tower, and tried to settle down for a well-earned nap.

-

She wanted to call him a liar, wanted to say he'd made the whole thing up, that he was just trying to gain sympathy from her as he kept her away from her family, from other humans... That _he_ was going to be her keeper until a knight or adventurer of some type slayed him and rescued her.

But he had sounded truly remorseful when he'd told her that the whole affair was a sham. He'd sounded honestly upset when he'd told her about the 'kidnapping tradition' of her mother's side of the family. And it wasn't like her mother hadn't made _suggestions_ like that before. They had sounded playful, like jokes...

Was he right? If she went home, would her mother just set something like this up again?

It wasn't like she _wasn't_ prepared to be married off, either; she was the princess, that was part of her duty. To make a solid alliance with one of her father's allies, or to ensure the cooperation of the nobility by marrying one of their sons to produce potential heirs to the kingdom.

True, her oldest brother wasn't even wed yet, and he was in his early twenties, but men were _expected_ to be feckless and reckless, and their father had plenty of years left before he would abdicate in favor of a son... or a grandson.

Anna pushed herself upright after another few moments, slowly, achingly, and used the staff to hobble her way out of the small library. Back to the bedroom she went, where she drew the heavy curtains across the window, then put herself to bed, dragging the blanket over her head. She didn't know what to do, and being awake seemed like too much effort. Maybe after a nap, she'd be able to figure things out a little more.

-

He was decidedly worried now; the curtains had been drawn in her room for several days, and he hadn't heard any sounds of movement from within the tower that might suggest she was just hiding for a bit but otherwise fine.

His conscience tugged at him, and he sighed faintly; perhaps he should have waited to tell her the truth until she'd recovered more, until she'd known him better. Had it been too much of a shock to tell her the truth the way he had?

Alucard shook himself briefly, trading dragon skin for human. He'd tried to do the polite thing and give her some space, but he couldn't, in good conscience, let her starve herself when he was there and able to do something about it. Once he was sure she was all right, he'd let her be again, but he needed to know first.

He sighed again, raking a hand through his hair so that it was more or less out of his face, and pushed the door open, making his way into the tower and up to the third floor where her bedroom was.

The fact that he'd already started thinking of it as _her_ room, instead of a spare room, was telling.

The door was closed, and there was only a little light filtering through the small gap at its base. He knocked, waited, then knocked again. A third knock only produced a faint sound from within, and carefully, mindful of the fact that he would be intruding, he turned the handled and pushed it open.

It was lit only by the dim glow of embers in the fireplace, and the air tasted stale. Considering she hadn't opened curtains or window in the past few days, it didn't surprise him too much, but it did make him wrinkle his nose slightly. She had struck him as the fastidious sort, not the kind to let a room get like this.... but then again, she'd had something of an upset in the routine of her life.

He kept his opinions to himself and carefully skirted the minimal furniture until he could stand by the bed, and look down at the lump he presumed was the girl. She had the blanket over her head, and it looked like the pillow too.

Alucard sighed a little, and carefully pulled the blanket down; she resisted a little, clinging to it, but after a few moments he was able to get it, and the pillow off her face. Green eyes, fever-bright, blinked blearily up at him, and she cringed back a little, trying to move away from him.

“Easy,” he said quietly. “I'm not going to make you leave.”

“D'you... l-live here?” she asked, her voice a weak rasp. “I'm s-sorry, I d-d-din't mean t-to...”

She broke off in a fit of coughing, and he shook his head a little. She was decidedly ill now, but it didn't seem as though it came from any of her injuries. So, likely the shock and not knowing how to deal with it, or being unable to deal with it had brought this about. He grimaced slightly; he didn't _want_ to stay in human form, but if she couldn't take care of herself, it looked like he was going to need to.

“In a manner of speaking,” he replied. “You don't need to apologize for anything, you're welcome to stay.”

“The.. d-dragon? Aluc-card?”

Tempting to tell her the truth... but she was suffering enough as it was. He'd keep that to himself for a bit, and maybe when she had a clear head again...

“Away for the moment. He comes and goes as he pleases, same as I.”

“O-oh...”

“When did you last eat?”

She looked away.

“...d-dunno... M'not.... hungry.”

Alucard shook his head.

“You're not allowed to starve yourself to death,” he scolded mildly. “Can you sit up?”

Pillows appeared in a puff of sound next to the bed as she gamely tried. Ultimately, he had to help her sit up, then piled the pillows around her to keep her upright, but up she came.

“Beef broth, and tea,” he said firmly. “And you could stand to bathe after, you've been in this room too long. While you eat, I'll take a look at your ankle.”

-

When she pushed open the door and stepped out into the early summer sunlight, Alucard lifted his head from his forearms, and studied her with those large, golden eyes.

“You are well again?” he asked courteously.

“I... mostly,” Anna replied a bit meekly. “I.. I thought..?”

“Once your recovery was ascertained, your visitor felt it prudent to contact me before he left. He did not think it wise to leave you alone, but he had his own affairs to attend to, and could delay no longer.”

So it _hadn't_ been a fever dream, someone really _had_ been there, taking care of her. It made her a little sad to know that he was gone... but at the same time, she was almost glad to see the large black dragon, and found him... oddly less scary. Something in the voice, maybe, or the eyes.

After a moment, she shook her head a little.

“I.. I don't know how much I can offer to you that would be... be helpful, but... but I think I'd like to... to stay?” she offered tentatively.

“Do you know much about plants and gardens?” he asked.

“Um... a little. I mean, I know what's a weed and what's not?”

The massive head nodded a little, and she blinked slightly as the sunlight caused a prismatic ripple over the black scales. He was still... large and somewhat scary, but there was a beauty to him that was somehow comforting.

“The grounds were, if I recall rightly, mostly decorative, but I... let them grow wild after the tower's original inhabitant passed. If being useful would make you feel more comfortable with staying, I would be much obliged if you would be willing to work them back towards something.... tamed.”

That grin was full of too many sharp teeth to be comforting, but at the same time there was nothing threatening in his voice. If anything, he seemed almost... nervous about asking.

Anna looked over at the beds in question, and had to admit that it was going to take a lot of work to get them to look anywhere near decent, let alone _tamed._ And she really wasn't proficient in working hard, not at something like _that_. But...

“I can try?” she finally said.

“That is all I ask.”

-

It was a fairly steep learning curve, that first year in the tower; Anna hadn't realized just how much she'd depended on servants to do the bulk of her work for her, and while the tower certainly filled in for quite a bit—delivering food, setting up baths, having bandages and the like at the ready for injuries, basically giving her anything material that she asked for—she still spent a lot of time simply learning how to take care of herself. Learning her limits, and then slowly expanding them, taking an odd sort of comfort in the ability to dress and do her own hair, being able to _choose_ how she filled her days instead of having every minute scheduled...

Healing had, naturally, taken priority. Alucard had been very firm on that point, on not standing or walking much until her ankle had healed properly, and doing a minimal amount of bending and carrying until her ribs were more or less in one piece again. So it had taken a good portion of summer before she could actually _start_ trying to work the gardens. Once she had, however, it had been impossible to avoid talking to the dragon.

She'd discovered that he had a very _dry_ sort of humor, the kind that took her a few seconds to realize he was telling a joke. What made it odder was that he seemed to be amused by how long it took her to _realize_ it. But at the same time, she found she liked it. He never directly teased or talked down to her, even when she asked the most basic of questions, something a child ought to have known. He would simply answer the question... often more thoroughly than she expected him to.

Once she stopped being quite so unnerved by his sized, she realized he had a very soothing sort of voice. Letting him talk while she pulled weeds and dug out rocks, trying to make something out of the shambles the gardens had become, was relaxing. He was widely read, and even more widely traveled, and listening to him talk about the places he'd flown over, or even visited in person for longer than a few minutes, _almost_ made her want to visit them herself.

But that was silly, of course. She couldn't do that...

He helped sometime, usually just pulling trees out of the ground in showers of dirt, or rolling boulders out of the way when she asked. He got rather evasive when she wondered how the rocks had gotten there in the first place, but there was something almost... endearing about the way he tried to play it off that she decided pestering him about it was pointless. And she couldn't really blame him for trying to flatten the garden and dim the memories of his lost friend. Grief was personal and private, and was often the reason for many oddities among humans. That it might affect a dragon in similar ways, well...

As fall progressed, he seemed to... _relax_ in some way she didn't entirely understand. Perhaps it was because she'd expressed no wish to return home yet, or maybe it was just that he was getting used to her, as she was getting used to him. Whatever the reason, where once he had done his best to avoid touching her if he could, now he would sometimes reach over and get her little nudges with the blunt part of a talon if he wanted her direct attention. Or sometimes just to knock her over, as though she was just some sort of toy he was playing with.

It was a _little_ rude, but it was kind of difficult to scold a dragon...

Winter put an end to most outside excursions, especially after the snow began to fall. What was only a few inches swiftly cleared from paths in the city, became drifts almost as tall as she was. Alucard could—and did—move the snow when she asked, but it was much _easier_ to just stay inside the tower and explore the library. The only downside was that if she wanted to talk to him, she had to open a window and put up with the draft.

Which was how she caught the flu not once, but _twice,_ and had to be tended by the amber-eyed stranger again when she became too ill to leave her bed. He still hadn't given her his name, but she was quite certain he sounded familiar, in a way she didn't entirely understand. Whatever the reason, she was glad of the human company... Not that she didn't like Alucard's company too, but having another human around, however briefly, lifted her spirits.

Spring brought a riot of colors and sounds, and Anna spent more time outside than in; with Alucard at her side, surprisingly nimble for his size, she began exploring more than _just_ the tower grounds. Venturing into the forest beyond, she found all sorts of new experiences, delighting in... well, _most_ of them. Meeting the skunk had been anything but fun, though it had certainly provided Alucard with something to tease her about for several days after.

She still kept track of the days, trying hard to not let them blur into one another. The tower was very helpful there, providing her a simple calendar and writing stick. She marked the days off, and wrote small notes on certain days, tracking her cycles, as well as taking care to identify something particular about each day after it had happened.

It was a little after her fifteenth birthday when the routine she'd adjusted to was disrupted once more.

-

He'd been drowsing in the sun, as he was wont to do in the pleasant weather. Anna was nearby, humming quietly as she worked on yet another overgrown section of the garden, the birds were making their usual noises, and there was no reason for him to feel anything other than relaxed.

Which was why when he heard the wingbeats, he first elected to ignore them. Every now and again, other dragons would travel over this area. As long as they didn't bother him, he was inclined to leave them be; unlike many older dragons, he was not so fanatically protective of his territory that he would make others fight him to cross it. So long as they didn't raise a raucous with the humans, he didn't much _care_ what other dragons did.

It was only when Anna reached over and tapped him on the snout that he realized those wingbeats were getting _closer_.

“Should I...?”

He lifted his head and squinted a little, then heaved an annoyed sigh.

“You're safe,” he replied, unable to keep the grumbly tone out of his voice. “Looks like my annoying cousin has decided to drop by for a visit...”

“Cousin?”

He couldn't really blame her the surprised tone; while he'd listened plenty to her about her family, he'd never volunteered much about his own. Not that she hadn't asked, he'd just... elected to pretend she hadn't, and she was a smart enough young human to not press her luck.

“Unfortunately so,” and he sighed a little. “Just ignore most of what he says, and you should be fine.”

“...not comforting. You sure I shouldn't...?” and she gestured towards the door.

“If you want to, but he's.... harmless. Annoying, an idiot, but harmless.”

She didn't entirely look convinced, and stayed close to him as the circling dragon came in for a landing.

Alucard lowered his head a little, narrowing his eyes slightly as his cousin's wings stirred up dirt, and leaves. Anna squeaked, and he shifted a little, curving a hand around her to shield her from the worst of it.

“Trevor,” he sighed a little once the other dragon landed with a thud. “I see your landings have improved.”

“Fuck you too, Alucard,” Trevor replied with somewhat malicious cheer. “I'm not going to come dive-bombing in with a passenger. Hey, when did you get a new human?”

“Passenger?” Alucard inquired at the same time.

In response, Trevor lowered himself down more properly, and a young human came sliding off his back. She wore blue robes, and her reddish-blonde hair was disheveled from the flight. Alucard lifted his own head slightly, surprised; had Trevor actually befriended a human mage? She didn't look much older than...

Anna and the mage spotted each other at the same moment, and the mage's face broke out in a wide grin.

“Hello! I'm Sypha Belnades. This giant lump is Trevor.”

“I'm not a lump,” Trevor protested mildly.

“Yes you are,” and Sypha smirked up at him. “A great red lump who likes being lazy.”

Trevor only sighed tolerantly, even _fondly_, and Alucard shook his head slightly. He'd admittedly half-expected Trevor to befriend a human at _some_ point; obnoxious attitude aside, he was actually quite friendly and charismatic when he wanted to be. To have it be a mage, well, that was somewhat unexpected. Mages and dragons didn't typically get along, or even really _talk_, unless the mage was asking for bits of scale or talon for one of their potions.

He glanced down at Anna, who had her hands on his and seemed uneasy... was she just being shy after a year of no other humans, or was she unnerved? Either way, it was probably best to head this off before Trevor said, or did, something stupid.

“Is there a _point_ to this visit, or are you just here because you've decided bothering me is better than being bored again?”

“Well, bothering you _is_ better than being bored,” Trevor replied with a draconic smirk. “Since I stop being bored and all.”

Sypha reached over and swatted one coppery forearm lightly.

“I actually asked him to bring me here,” she said, looking up at Alucard with a surprising amount of fearlessness. “See... I think this tower belonged to an ancestor of mine.”

“....so you've come to try and claim it then?”

“No! No, nothing like that. It's yours, really, yours and whoever you want to share it with,” and Sypha's hands came up placatingly. “I just wanted to see if it _might_ have been my ancestor's. There's some... well, he ran off with some of the only copies of books we had, and they were kind of important to the elders. They couldn't get new copies made, because they were all clan history and myth mixed with lore...”

Alucard huffed a small cloud of smoke and half-glared at Trevor.

“You could have sent a messenger first,” he said, annoyed.

“What, and miss out on your reaction? Where's the fun in that?”

There was a tiny hint of a giggle from Anna, and Alucard huffed again, this time at her, though he was careful to keep smoke or sparks from slipping out. That just made her giggle again, and he had to admit that he liked that sound from her. While she had seemed _content_ these past months, he hadn't found much that would make her laugh.

Maybe it was worth putting up with Trevor to see her hiding a smile behind one hand...

“Look, just let Sypha go through your library for a few days, and then we'll be out of your hair,” Trevor proposed. “It's not like the tower can't accommodate more people.”

“...._more_ people?” Alucard asked, a sudden feeling of foreboding rippling up his spine.

Trevor shrugged, then shook himself lightly, shedding the dragon form in favor of a human one. Anna's giggles turned into a startled gasp as Trevor raked a hand through somewhat messy, spiky brown hair, and smirked a bit up at Alucard.

“Told you I'd figure this trick out eventually,” he said genially. “C'mon. It's not like you've got anything _better_ to do. Get down on this level and help me out, would you?”

“....if you weren't family, I would _eat_ you,” Alucard grumbled.

“....if... if it's me you're worrying about, I don't mind,” Anna offered timidly. “It's... I'm just a guest...”

Alucard curled his hand around her just a little more, not entirely sure if the gesture was possessive or protective. Trevor smirked at him.

“C'mon. Your human says she doesn't mind. Change over and give us a place to start, would you? Sooner it's done, the sooner we can get out of your hair~”

“...I really will eat you,” Alucard grumped, carefully pulling his hand away from Anna. “Bones and all, you obnoxious...”

He had wanted to ease into the knowledge, but Trevor had certainly blown _that_ plan out of the water with his own unprompted change. With an annoyed growl he shook himself, triggering the change. When he pushed his hair out of his face, Sypha let out a low whistle.

“You weren't kidding, he really _is_ pretty,” she said.

Trevor snickered.

“You are _not_ endearing yourself,” Alucard said testily, scowling a little at the mage.

She only grinned at him, and he didn't dare look to the side to see Anna's reaction. Damnit, he'd had a _plan_, but no, Trevor had to come in with all the subtly of a brick meeting glass at high speed...

“If it's the library you wish, come this way,” and he gestured slightly to Sypha. Then he pointed at Trevor. “_You_ don't get to come in just yet.”

“Fine by me,” and Trevor shrugged. “The library is boring, and the weather is nice.”

He didn't necessarily want to leave Anna _alone_ with his idiot cousin, but Sypha was already approaching eagerly, and it was too late to change his mind now. So he kept his back stiff to convey his continuing irritation, and stalked into the tower, excited mage at his heels.

-

Anna's gaze went from Trevor, to the open tower door into which Sypha and Alucard—a _human_ Alucard!—had vanished, then back. After a moment, Trevor wandered over to one of the benches Alucard had unearthed from the garden and flopped down onto it.

“He's a cranky bastard, but it could be worse,” he said with a lopsided smile. “Sorry about all the fuss, by the by. What's your name?”

“...A... Anna...”

“Good name. Nice and short. You should get him to teach you magic if you can. I think you'd be good at the calm stuff. You already seem pretty good with the plants and all...”

She blinked several times, wondering if maybe she'd hit her head particularly hard on something without realizing it. This whole thing felt... surreal. Unexpected, and a touch overwhelming. The very casual, _genial_ sort of way he spoke... it was a far cry from Alucard's much more formal speech, and admittedly a bit disconcerting.

“I... um... are you... are you... _really_ related?”

It was a rude question, and she flushed, ducking her head a bit the second it popped out, but Trevor only snickered.

“He's a stoic bastard, isn't he?” he replied with a smirk. “Kind of a special case, even among our kin, though that's his stuff to share. But yeah, we're cousins in some distant sort of connection. Really, unless you're nestmates, it's just polite to call someone cousin. For all you know, it could be true. Usually keeps people from attacking each other, at least for a little while.”

“O-oh.”

“...You okay?”

Anna just blinked, and elected to just sit very carefully on the ground after a moment. Was she okay? She wasn't entirely sure anymore. A cousin, a mage who might actually be the legitimate owner of the tower, Alucard becoming the same person who'd tended to her while she'd been ill...

“I'm not sure,” she finally said, surprised at how calm her voice sounded. “It's.... I don't know.”

She didn't feel _faint_, at least, just very bewildered. Trying to reconcile the large, still occasionally unnerving dragon with the kind hands and gentle voice of her caretaker... it didn't seem _real_. Was she dreaming very coherently? She did that on occasion... But why would she dream up someone who would bait and argue with Alucard? Why would she dream up a _transformation_ for Alucard?

“So, uh... how did you end up here, anyways?” Trevor asked.

She blinked a couple of times, looked at him for an uncertain moment, then looked away. Those silver eyes were openly curious, but she could read nothing malicious in them. While she wouldn't say she was the _best_ at reading faces, she was fairly sure that he was just trying to make conversation.

“...it's... complicated,” she said uncomfortably. “I'd... I'd really rather not talk about it.”

Because if she talked about it, thought about it, all the things she was suppressing, all the confused, unhappy feelings she's mostly managed to ignore would come bubbling up with a vengeance, and she just... still didn't know how she _felt_ about any of it. Some days she believed Alucard, other days she swung to thinking he'd made it up to keep her in the tower. If not for the fact that he'd offered to let her go if she ever decided to leave, she could have considered him to be in on the whole thing himself, the dragon to keep her contained until she was rescued by a knight, or adventurer.

“All right. Have to say, it's nice to see someone taking care of these gardens again. The old guy who lived here last, he did all of it magically, but you're doing it by hand, huh?”

Anna nodded, and Trevor gave her a brief, lopsided grin.

“Well, don't let me interrupt. Sy's probably going to be a while, so I might just nap. It's a good day for it.”

He sprawled out onto the bench, tucking his hands behind his head. To her surprise, he seemed to fall asleep almost immediately, and she spent several minutes watching him with bewildered wariness, trying to figure out what had just happened. Eventually though, she got back to her feet and edged her way back to the plot she'd been working on.

It felt... odd.. to work on the garden without Alucard's looming presence at her back, waiting for her to ask for help, or ask a question that would set him off on a long story that would make the time, and the work, go faster. All her thoughts felt like they were colliding with one another, but her hands knew the work now, and she was able to turn soil, dig up weeds, and neaten out a row in her muddled haze.

When a throat cleared pointedly behind her, she jumped about a foot, and came around swinging; fortunately for her, Alucard's reflexes as a human were sharp, and he easily redirected the hoe into the ground. Anna flushed and looked down at her feet, embarrassed and uncertain. She knew, somewhat, how to treat the dragon, but it felt like it had been longer than a year since she'd had true human contact. How ought she talk to him when he was like this?

“....I was planning on telling you,” he said after a long moment. “I wanted you to be... used to living here first. And I didn't want you to.... prefer this form.”

She glanced up at him, and had to admit that it was a fair concern; he was probably the most beautiful man she'd seen, and she'd had contact with plenty of handsome noblemen in her father's court. A fine-boned face, surrounded by waves of pale blonde hair that flowed down his back, he would have attracted any number of people if he walked into a town... and not just because he was beautiful. She had never seen someone so pale before, outside the occasional inter-kingdom diplomats from farther north. Most of her people were various shades of tan to brown, with dark hair and eyes. Her green ones came from her mother's line, same as the red in her brown hair, and both were from farther west than Ederia.

“You're more comfortable being... a dragon?” she asked tentatively.

“I _am_ a dragon. This form is... useful, but mostly simply a means to an end. I do not necessarily enjoy wearing it the way my idiot cousin does.”

“Ah...”

And she looked down again, uncertain. She _did_ like the idea that he might spend more time in his human form... But if he didn't want to, then it wasn't right to ask him for it. He was already being indulgent enough by letting her stay in his tower; asking for more would be... selfish. And she found she couldn't really blame him for preferring the dragon form. Given a choice, being a dragon seemed... _safer_.

“....the sapling is in the way,” she finally said, a little meekly. “Could you...?”

He was surprised, she decided after a moment. Relieved, definitely, but maybe also a little... disappointed? As she watched, he unfolded into the more familiar dragon form, and reached out with a scaled hand to grip the sapling at its base.

-

“Is he kind to you?”

Anna blinked, looking over at Sypha in surprise. She'd been there two weeks so far, seeking the old books as well as discovering new ones, and Anna was actually quite pleased to share space with her and Trevor both. It was _nice_ to have someone else to talk to, and they were close enough in age that she was starting to wonder if this was what it would have felt like to have a sister.

Socializing before bed was starting to feel... _normal_. If Sypha didn't prefer to sleep with Trevor in the same room—for reasons Anna was carefully _not_ thinking about—she could have happily shared the bedroom.

“Alucard?” she hazarded after a moment. “Or Trevor?”

“....I don't think Trevor knows how to be actually _kind_ to anyone,” Sypha said with fond exasperation. “It's just... Alucard spends most of his time as a dragon, so I... I can't help worrying a little. He _does_ understand that humans aren't solitary creatures, occasional outlier or not, right?”

Anna tucked her knees up to her chest, then shrugged lightly.

“Well... I'd _like_ it if he was human more often, but,” she shook her head. “He's a dragon. I can't alter that. But... yes, he's kind. He... he's cared for me when I've been ill, and hasn't told me I need to leave even though I'm... I'm really not very good at much.”

Sypha gave her a speculative look; like Trevor, she hadn't pushed for the details of Anna's story, though she had asked a couple of times. Frankly, while Anna was fairly sure Trevor could be trusted—what use did a dragon have for human politics, after all?—she didn't want Sypha to suddenly switch to being formal. She _liked_ feeling like she had a real friend, someone who wasn't going to see the wealth and prestige of a princess before seeing the person.

So she pretended she didn't notice the look, instead picking up the mug she'd set aside earlier to see if the contents were still drinkable. Sometimes the tower left things around for a little while before making them vanish back to wherever it kept them. As if making sure she really was done with it first.

“You're going to stay here for a while, aren't you?” Sypha asked after a moment.

Anna nodded as she took a cautious sip and discovered mint water at the bottom of the mug. Perfect, considering it had been a hot day.

“Are _you_ okay with us visiting on the regular?”

Anna blinked, and looked over at the mage, setting the cup down after a moment, and letting one leg dangle again.

“I... I thought you'd live here,” she admitted after a moment, uncertainly. “It _was_ your ancestor's tower...”

“Yes, but now it's Alucard's, because he's taken care of it for so long,” and Sypha shrugged lightly. “Just because he said he's held it in trust for someone in my family doesn't make it _not_ his, after all. He'll be here long after we die... But, anyways, no, I didn't plan on moving here. First I wanted to make sure it _was_ my ancestor's tower, _then_ I needed to find the books he stole, _then_ I needed to bring those books back home, once I've made copies. _Then _I have to talk to my family about it, and see what they think. I'm only seventeen, so I doubt they're going to be thrilled if I decide I want to live here with only one other human and two dragons.”

Anna hesitated then looked away.

“Some people hear the word 'dragon' and they think of something to slay,” she said quietly. “And anyone around the dragon as someone to rescue.”

“Oh, princess in a tower stuff?” Sypha scoffed a little, if gently. _“Please._ I think the nearest village is something like a week away on foot, and this forest has entirely too many rumors about ghosts and curses and the like.”

“That doesn't mean people wouldn't come... If they thought there was reason to.”

Sypha got up, and came over to sit on the bed with Anna, nudging up against her gently.

“Hey, what's wrong?”

“...nothing.”

Sypha's silence was the patient sort, that of someone used to waiting. Anna sighed a little, and shifted a bit uncomfortably.

“I just.... there's always... _someone_ who wants to prove themself,” she said after a moment. “And slaying a dragon... for a knight, that's almost like a rite of passage, never mind that there's all sorts of treaties and things to say humans aren't allowed to do that sort of thing without special dispensation. A-and...”

She curled her hands into the fabric of her nightgown; the idea that someone might come after Alucard to rescue _her,_ might try to _kill_ Alucard, when all he'd done was _help_....

It was unbearable to think about. And yet, she just _couldn't_ bring herself to ask Alucard to take her to a human village. She _liked_ it in the forest, in the tower. She liked being around him; human or dragon, he made her feel far more safe than living in the palace, being surrounded by people and guards, _ever_ had. More than that, here she felt _wanted_, like she was being of some use. Yes, it was only returning gardens back to their original, well-tended conditions, but it felt like more of a purpose than being expected to make a political marriage.

And most importantly, Alucard was her _friend_. Leaving him alone just didn't _feel_ right.

Anna closed her eyes tightly, hunching her shoulders as she felt the prickle and burn of tears. Dimly she registered Sypha's concern, but it wasn't until the other teen wrapped her up in a hug that she lost control and the tears dripped down her cheeks.

-

“You need to be human more.”

Alucard blinked and looked down at Sypha, raising a scaly brow ridge. She glared up at him, hands on her hips, and he sighed after a moment.

“I'd rather not. Humans are small, squishy, and slow,” he said with a pointed look over at Trevor who had been drafted into helping Anna weed the garden. “I am a dragon.”

“So? Trevor's a dragon, and he spends plenty of time in human form. There's nothing wrong with it, and Anna needs a _person_ around more than she needs a dragon.”

“....she needs a _protector_,” he corrected with a low growl. “I serve that function better as I am.”

“She needs _friends_,” Sypha retorted. “You're too distant like this, and she's too polite to ask. And you need a friend too, more than just Trevor coming and making an ass of himself.”

Alucard looked away from her, out towards the forest. Who was this human to come in and tell him what he should and should not be doing? Her only exposure to dragonkind was _Trevor_, and it was clear that he was hardly the epitome of what a proper dragon was supposed to be.

And yet...

He thought back to the times Anna had been ill over the winter; how, even through her fever, she'd looked happy to see him. How she'd leaned into him when he was tending to her, more often than not falling asleep _on_ him if he took too long.

How she'd looked briefly hopeful to see him standing before her, and how she'd shuttered that hope, buried whatever she was feeling behind politeness when he'd said he was a dragon, not a human.

Thought too about the conversation he'd overheard that had ended with Anna in tears, how he'd tasted her fear in the air, and it had taken considerable control to not shove his head into the window and demand to know what had happened...

“You can be friend _and_ guardian,” Sypha pointed out, her voice gentling a bit. “There's no one saying you can only be one or the other. And sure, humans are small, and slow, and squishy, but isn't that a fair trade off for being able to hug someone? You can't tell me you _don't_ need hugs, because I simply won't believe it.”

Despite himself, Alucard had to smile slightly. He'd _tried_ to keep this human at arm's length, but Sypha was as fearless as Anna was proper. He was quite willing to blame it all on Trevor, though he suspected that it was just part of who she was as a person.

“I will take your words under advisement,” he said after a minute. “...also, I would be ready to intervene, I think Trevor is about to-”

Sypha turned as Anna yelped; Trevor, in his somewhat less than infinite wisdom, had a thing for sneaking up on her. He had yet to learn to do it when she _wasn't_ holding something, and the water from the bucket she had been using for the plants drenched Trevor from top to toe.

Sypha promptly burst out laughing.

-

It had been a week since they'd left, and while Anna found it a bit more comfortable to have the quiet, she also missed Sypha and Trevor more than a little. She hadn't quite realized how _nice_ it was to get hugs on a regular basis. Sypha was _very_ huggy, much more tactile than Anna was used to.... Trevor too, though he liked to give surprise hugs, and hadn't _quite_ mastered the art of not getting hit when he scared her.

And it had been so very nice. In truth, she couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten a hug from her parents. A hand on the shoulder here, a brief pat on the head there.... but they weren't really they hugging sort. And none of her brothers were much into casual touch either. Oh, they'd let her hug them, but they'd all made it clear that it wasn't their ideal form of contact.

She tucked her knees up to her chest, book forgotten on the table beside her, and sighed a little. Maybe she ought to have gone with Sypha...? But no, she couldn't leave Alucard alone again. Plus, the chance that someone would figure out who she was... It wasn't a palatable idea in the slightest, going from comforting friendship to formality. Then someone would undoubtedly send for guards or soldiers, and she would be brought back to the palace.

It was a _little_ startling to realize that she didn't want to go back to the palace. Back to duty and responsibility, back to the expectation that she would make a political marriage, and be remanded to wherever her husband's lands were, to never return except for brief visits. It was childish maybe, but she _liked_ the freedom of living in this tower, of being able to read without interruption, get her hands dirty in the garden and not hear someone fuss about how she shouldn't stay out in the sun for hours on end. Or worse, mock the efforts she was making towards figuring out how to use the kitchen and all the implements therein.

“Princesses don't cook,” she muttered. “Princesses don't garden.”

“...a funny thing to say when you clearly do both.”

She yelped and jumped out of the chair, reaching for something to throw before she realized _who_ had spoken. Alucard stood in the doorway, looking somewhat.... _uncomfortable_, actually, but also moderately amused.

“Don't _do_ that!” she demanded, too startled to be anything but blunt. “It wasn't funny when Trevor did it, it's _definitely_ not funny when you do it!”

“I apologize,” and he bowed slightly, hand to heart, though he couldn't _quite_ hide his smile. “It wasn't my intent to startle you at this time.”

The wording made her give him a suspicious stare. That didn't necessarily sound promising...

“W... what brings you inside?” she asked after a moment.

“It was... brought to my attention that you were more lonely than you were letting on,” he said after a hesitant moment of his own. “I admit, it... it has been a long time since I shared the tower with anyone, and I have... fallen out of practice at being human.”

Anna blinked, then flushed a little and looked down at her feet, embarrassed. She hadn't wanted to _bother_ him with being needy, not when he was being so kind.

“I'm all right,” she murmured. “It's... _different_. But..”

She jumped slightly when he moved forward, crossing the room quickly with his long strides, and looked up at him on reflex alone. His hand came out, hovered briefly, then came to rest on her shoulder.

“I should have considered that you were used to more company than just yourself,” he said quietly. “I used to spend more time in the form, when Sypha's ancestor was in residence, and I have forgotten many things about humans and their needs.”

“Y... You don't...”

A half-smile crossed his face as her voice faltered. She _did_ want company that didn't involve him sticking his snout through a window, or her having to go outside so that she could have a conversation with him. She liked talking to him, but that _had_ gotten her sick twice over the winter...

“I do appreciate that you're trying to not discomfort me,” he offered after a moment, squeezing her shoulder lightly. “It's kind of you.”

“Ah...”

She flushed a bit again, and rubbed the tip of her nose slightly, feeling both shy and embarrassed.

“Will it discomfort _you_, if I am around more in this form?”

“N-no,” she said quickly. Then ducked her head a little, feeling abruptly awkward on top of everything else. “No, I... I _would_ like it if... if you wanted to be like this more. I just... I don't want to be... a bother. You're... you've already been kind enough by letting me stay...”

“You've been kind enough _to_ stay,” he replied, startling her into looking up. It was his turn to look away after a moment, hand finally falling from her shoulder as he seemed to draw into himself a little. “I hadn't expected that you would... adjust so well. Winter was not kind to you, and I was... less than I could have been.”

It wasn't hard to parse that, and she could hardly blame him for the expectation. Even her most capable of brothers would have been whining about the lack of servants to help them dress after a few _days_, and here she'd been in the tower for over a year. More than that, she'd figured out the basics of personal care, things a less noble child learned much earlier than her.

Another chair materialized quietly, and she hid a smile; clearly the tower thought they would benefit from sitting and talking. It was appealing; there had been some twinging in her ankle earlier, that made her wonder if it would start storming, so sitting and talking would be much more comfortable.

“I've always been... not really _wild_, but more flexible, I suppose,” she said, settling back into her chair, and smiling shyly when Alucard noticed the second, then elected to sit as well. “I liked being able to finish my lessons early so I could be in the gardens on the grounds. Sometimes....” and she smiled ruefully. “All right, more like once or twice, but still... I would sneak out of the palace and go to one of the parks in the city on my own. I couldn't do it for very long before someone noticed I was missing, but...”

He chuckled slightly, and sampled the mug that had appeared on the table between them.

“No, I would not peg you as a wild girl,” Alucard said after he'd swallowed. “But I did think you much more meek when you arrived. You're not one to make waves, are you?”

Anna shook her head a little, picking up her own mug of tea and cradling it loosely in her hands.

“I suppose.... well, if it was really important to me, I probably could,” she said finally. “But there's never been much that's felt like I could change it if I said something.”

Not that anyone had listened to her when she'd tried either...

“You've been here a year,” he said after a moment. “Would you be interested in learning some magic?”

She blinked at him, surprised by the non sequitur.

“Could I?” she asked doubtfully.

“Any human can learn how to use magic,” he replied with a small shrug. “It's... much like how you've improved your physicality. Practice and repetition to build up stores of energy. Figuring out your talent is arguably the hardest part; most humans seem very upset if their talents don't align to what they want.”

Anna nodded a little in understanding, and tipped her head to consider the idea. Trevor had _said_ he thought she'd be able to learn magic, though what he considered a calm skill she wasn't sure. And Sypha had been more than happy to demonstrate her own abilities when asked, and it had looked.... well, fun.

“....I think I'd like that,” she said after a moment. “How do I start?”

Alucard smiled faintly, leaning forward in his chair.

“_We_ start by figuring out what your affinity will be.” After a moment he stood, and held out a hand. “Here. Come with me, and I'll show you the room we can use.”

-

Work on the various gardens filled the days; teaching Anna how to access, and then build up the stores of magic within took up portions of the evenings, and sometimes continued long into the nights if she was feeling particularly enthusiastic.

Or stubborn.

It had admittedly been something of a surprise to learn that she _could_ be stubborn; he hadn't expected it of her in the slightest, but when she dug in her heels, it was undeniably fascinating. Perhaps hilariously, her stubborn, set look reminded him of Trevor in human skin, and he briefly entertained the idea that there might just be a few drops of dragon blood in this princess.

There was a chance; while most dragons regarded humans as quick and thoughtless creatures, there were others—like Trevor—who were fascinated by them and quite willing to share their lives. His own father had been one as well, though after her death, he had gone so far north that no one had seen him in over three centuries...

The more time he spent in the humans form, the less it bothered him, and he had to admit that perhaps Sypha had been correct. Anna was more at ease with him roughly her size, which led to more late-night discussions over books, and even occasionally her falling asleep on him when a day had been particularly long. He saw more sides to her than just the diffident politeness she'd been showing, and found that while she might yet be young by human standards, she was also quick of mind, and far more compassionate than someone her size ought to be.

Her magical affinities had pleased them both, and surprised him only a little. Plant lore and care, the vague _knowing_ she had of which plants were safe and which were not, were very useful skills. The healing side had been something of a surprise, but put together with the plant magic, worked well. It also explained how she'd healed up so quickly from her injuries the previous year.

“It'd be nice if I didn't get _sick_,” she grumbled, propped up on her pillows again. “I can heal injuries, but not illness?”

Alucard hid his smile as he passed her a mug of tea. She had insisted on trying to find a type of mushroom well into the rain and long after dark, so really, she only had herself to blame for catching ill. But it wasn't polite to say such things, and he suspected she was mostly complaining only because she felt miserable.

“It may be a thing you can learn with time,” he said instead, leaning back on his stool. “Or it may simply be a trade-off. You can heal injuries at greater speed, but it leaves you more open to catching colds and the like. Or,” and he couldn't quite help but tease her gently, “it's simply the consequences of being out in the rain and the chill long after you've been told it would be wise to return home.”

She stuck out her tongue, and he couldn't help but chuckle. Like this, she was infinitely more approachable, if a bit on the whiny side. While he liked her best when she was happy and well, he also enjoyed the parts of her that didn't often come to light.

“Trevor's sent a message this time, by the way,” he said once she'd drained the mug and handed it back. “Apparently Sypha's people are being difficult about her leaving them for long periods of time, with or without dragon protection. Her hope is to come back at some point in the fall, perhaps weather over until spring if she can.”

The way she perked up almost instantly was quite cute, even if it did also make him feel a little jealous. But then, why wouldn't she be eager to spend time with someone who had become her friend? He doubted that was a situation she was actively used to, and shoved the emotion away quickly.

“I'd like that,” she said. “I mean, if it's at all possible for them, that would be... it would be nice.”

This time it was easier to stifle the jealousy—she had weathered the past winter fairly well for a human, but getting sick twice hadn't really done her any favors. While he wouldn't have to avoid coming in now, it would also be beneficial to _both_ of them to have other people to speak with as well, just in case close quarters began to wear on them.

“You say this now,” and his smile was dry, he knew. “But you haven't yet spent hours in the company of the idiot with no escape.”

“Oh, be nice.” And the sharpness of her tone surprised him. “Trevor's worried about you. He doesn't think it's.... He thinks you shouldn't be all alone. He told me so. He comes to pester you because he _cares_.”

Alucard blinked at Anna as she frowned at him, before she turned away to cover a spate of coughing. It wasn't a foreign idea, that Trevor cared; he knew that full well. Why else would the other dragon insist on turning up every so often to bother him? But to have someone else say it was a bit surprising.

“...you ought to rest now,” he said once she'd caught her breath. “We can talk more after you've slept.”

-

Summer passed into fall, and then slipped into winter without sign of Trevor or Sypha; according to the message that had arrive just before the first snows, no one had been inclined towards giving her permission to go, and while Sypha _had_ entertained the idea of simply running away, she hadn't quite managed to go through with it.

So Anna and Alucard weathered the winter through together. He came in most evenings to escape the cold, and with the garden asleep under the snow, the magic lessons had been expanded into taking most of the afternoon, with the mornings being open to whatever Anna herself thought would be fun to learn. It was not uncommon for him to walk in on her splattered in paint, or hands heavy with clay as she fumbled her way through trying to create something in a medium that was not very royal.

She certainly seemed to enjoy trying, at least, and he saw no reason to try and make her stop. If it broke up the monotony of the winter days, well, that was all for the better.

When not invested in magic lessons, winter walks became a comfortable normality; he would break the snow with the heat of his body, carrying her quite comfortably on his back. He showed her the deep forest, where a pond lay frozen hard, and she showed him how to skate on it. Or, well, sort of skate; she didn't have the special boots that made ice gliding easier, but the surface was certainly slick enough that they have both spent more time on their human rears than on their feet. He hadn't necessarily enjoyed falling down, but having her fall over because she was giggling so much... there had been appeal in that.

Other times she would pick a direction at random and they would set off to see what could be found. While they didn't always return with anything of note, just the ability to get out of the tower seemed to keep her in good spirits, and much healthier than the previous year.

She surprised him quite well at the winter solstice with a black vest embroidered in gold thread to resemble dragon scales. Having not experienced the human custom of gift giving at that particular time of the year, he'd been caught without a gift to give in return. The fact that she had laughed it off had not sat well with him, but he didn't know what was _appropriate_ as a gift either, and had been forced to drop it.

With the spring came Anna's sixteenth birthday, and another unexpected visit from Trevor and Sypha. It was a short one, only a couple of weeks before they left, but this time the visits persisted through the following months. It was a _little_ aggravating to have to put up with Trevor much more often, but at the same time, if it meant seeing Anna's delight, Alucard found that he could tolerate his cousin a little better, a little _more_.

Granted, some trips ended in a rather hasty leave-taking when Trevor had pushed a little too much on subjects Alucard preferred to leave alone, but for the most part, the year was sprinkled with something almost akin to... well, the contentment he'd once felt when his old friend had been hale and healthy, before human aging had fouled everything up.

That winter was much less kind; Trevor and Sypha hadn't managed to make it back before the fall of snow, which meant they wouldn't be there at all. It was much too cold to take a human up flying in the winter, and this winter proved to be colder than the previous one, and much less forgiving.

At first, it had seemed like a small cold, a thing caught because the season had changed. But it hadn't gone away, hadn't gotten better, and then Anna had misjudged the thickness of a patch of ice shed been crossing and fallen in. He'd fished her out quickly, and hurried her back to the tower, but even as fast as he'd been, it hadn't prevented the chill from settling into her lungs.

Not for the first time he resented the fact that the skills which came easiest to him in the human skin were telekinetics. What use was the ability to lift a bowl from five feet away and control it automatically when Anna lay delirious in her bed, fighting for each breath? What was the point of such a skill when it didn't do _anything_ to alleviate her suffering?

It was hard to sit next to her bed and not know if they might be her last breaths.... but it was harder to stay away, to know nothing at all. And she wasn't able to care for herself while in this state. When the room got too close, too hot, he would leave for a brisk walk in the winter chill, but most of that winter was spent inside, tending to her. She relapsed _twice_ before winter was out, but with his care, managed to recover with the spring.

She was still weak, however, and while it was fairly good for her to spend time outside when the sun was warm and shining, he refused to let her put her hand to the garden for more than a couple hours a day. By the time her seventeenth birthday had come and gone, she was up to two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon, and rebelling in small ways when he tried to convince her it was time to stop.

So really, it was a _good_ thing when Sypha and Trevor arrived for their first visit of the year.

-

“I'm _fine_, Alucard,” she said irritably, refusing to let go of the hoe. “I'm not tired yet, I can keep working.”

“You need to take a break,” he said firmly, _also_ not letting go of the hoe. “You agreed that you would only work in small increments until you were fully recovered, and you _know_ you're not.”

“It's still _my_ choice,” she retorted, pulling on the hoe. “I'm not going to _keep_ recovering if you insist on getting between me and the work I want to do!”

It was easier to 'play' tug of war while he was in human form. If he'd been a dragon as he was wont to do when they were spending time outside, she'd never have been able to keep hold of her tools. He made a faintly annoyed sound and pulled back, which also had the effect of dragging her a little bit since he was decidedly stronger than her no matter what form.

And it wasn't like she _didn't_ understand where he was coming from, she was just getting very _tired_ of being hovered over. Yes, she had been deathly ill over the winter. Yes, she was still recovering from that, and he was only trying to make sure that she didn't get ill again.

But she was about two steps away from picking up her bucket of water and chucking the contents over him in a bid to get him to let her keep working while she had the energy to work!

“...Anna, please,” he said quietly. “I don't want you to relapse again.”

“I'm not that weak,” she retorted. “Maybe a few weeks ago, yes, but the weather is warm, and I feel _fine_, so if you could-”

She had been so focused on trying to get the hoe back that she had heard the familiar sound of wings and elected to ignore it. So when Alucard looked up, then pulled her abruptly forward into his hold, she yelped, resisting on nothing more then reflex. His hand pressed her face against his chest even as she tried to twist and see what had made him react like that; the thud of Trevor's landing nearly knocked them both off their feet, and it was easier to let go of the hoe and brace against Alucard to avoid that scenario.

“Oh?” Trevor's voice carried a lilt even as he lowered his head so that Sypha could climb down. “Are we interrupting something?”

Immediately Anna was released, and she pulled back, bringing the hoe with her almost protectively. But Alucard's attention—and his irritation—was focused on Trevor now, and she was able to scamper more or less out of reach with a relieved noise.

“Are you okay?” Sypha murmured, her hand landing on Anna's shoulder.

“...I'm fine,” Anna replied, stifling her irritation; Sypha had no idea how ill she'd been this winter, and Anna wasn't inclined to enlighten either of them right now. “We're disagreeing, but it's fine.”

Alucard slanted a brief glance at her that was hurt as much as annoyance. Perhaps it was petty and childish, but she responded by sticking out her tongue and turning her back on him.

“Fine,” Sypha said dryly. “Uh huh. Sure. Mind if I head inside and set up in the room again?”

Anna waved a hand, and even managed a smile that didn't feel forced.

“Sure. I can even make the tea instead of having the tower do it.”

“You're going to make the spells superfluous at this rate,” Sypha teased as she headed for the door.

“Oh no, I couldn't do that, but there is something soothing about being able to put it all together myself...”

Anna set the hoe next to the door, and paused to give Alucard a pointed look. He made a slightly annoyed sound, folded his arms, and looked away. Satisfied that the hoe would still be there when she returned, she followed Sypha into the tower.

-

“So, have you kissed her yet?” Trevor asked with a small smirk as he shifted forms.

Alucard glared at his cousin, who briefly mussed the spiky brown hair on his head as he stretched out human limbs.

“_That_ is your first question?” he replied irritably. “She's _human_.”

“And?” Trevor shrugged lightly “Sypha's human, but that doesn't stop me from kissing _her_ when I'm like this.”

Alucard was quite sure that there was _more_ than kissing going on between Trevor and Sypha, but he wasn't inclined to insinuate as such. Unlike Trevor, _he_ had _manners_.

“Why are you even asking a nonsensical question?”

“Well, you were plainly arguing about _something_. Don't you know kisses solve problems?~”

Alucard scoffed.

“As if you know what you're talking about.”

“Clearly, I know better than you right now,” Trevor retorted smugly. “You can't tell me you don't _want_ to kiss her.”

“Trevor...”

“I mean, _Sypha_ wants to kiss her, but she's worried about freaking Anna out-”

“_Trevor_...”

“-and _I_ certainly wouldn't mind kissing her if she was open t-”

Alucard's snarl was less human than dragon, and the shift was quick. Fortunately, Trevor's reflexes were just as swift, and they both took to the sky, Alucard in hot, frustrated pursuit of his cousin.

-

“....So, you're annoyed because he's worrying about you?” Sypha asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, that's not...” Anna made a frustrated sound. “He's _hovering_, and _he's_ the one deciding when I take a break. Not _if_ I take a break, _when_ I take a break. How am I supposed to know that I'm healthy again when he won't let me figure it out for myself?!”

Sypha made a noncommittal sound as Anna sulkily sipped her tea.

“Have you told him this?”

“I've _tried_, but he doesn't want to listen,” she grumbled. “And it's not... I appreciate the care. I really do.” Her voice softened a little as she stared down into the mug. “But... The last few years, he's let me taste freedom....”

She still kept the secret, still refused to pierce the protections she'd wrapped around the thoughts, fears, and worries of what could happen if it came out. As long as no one else knew, she could pretend that the only thing she wanted to do was live in the tower. She could _let go_ of the demands and fetters of the life of a princess and just... be happy.

“....I just want to be able to decide for myself,” she finally said. “I need to be able to _know_ for myself. And maybe sometimes that's going to mean pushing harder than he likes, but he's not seeing that. It's like he doesn't _want_ to see that, and it's... it's frustrating.”

Sypha nodded a little in understanding, and half-smiled.

“Well, my grandfather would say if you're well enough to argue, you're well enough to decide what to do with yourself,” she said practically. “Since it sounds like Trevor started a fight, why don't we go out and see what all can be done in the garden before they're done being idiots?”

“A... a fight?”

Sypha laughed a little as Anna moved to the door and looked outside; she'd half-expected to see two grown men brawling in the dirt, but there was no one on the grounds. When she looked up, she could only _just_ make out two specks, dark against the midday blue of the sky. When Sypha peered around her, she startled a little.

“Maybe by the time they're done, Alucard will be in more of a listening state of mind,” the other woman said with a wry smile. “Until then, what should we do?”

“Ah... well, there's... I was in the middle of breaking up dirt in that one when he decided I was done,” and Anna pointed at the section she'd picked to work on for the day. “There's plenty of weeds to remove...”

“Then let's do that. They'll be fine~”

Anna looked uncertainly up at the sky again, then back at Sypha who gave her a reassuring smile. After a moment she nodded in agreement, and reached out to pick up the hoe once more.

-

Alucard sank into the hot bath provided by the tower and let out a tired groan as his muscles protested the abuse he'd heaped on them. It had been a long while since he'd had reason to fight in _either_ form, and while there had been no real injuries to speak of, there was a bone-deep ache, and weariness that had come with the expenditure of energy required to chase Trevor all over the damned sky.

He'd won, but it had been a fairly close thing.

It annoyed him, a little, to realize that while he'd been busy chasing, Anna and Sypha had cleared what could be done by humans hands, and while _she_ had been fatigued as well, there had been a glitter of triumph in those green eyes that had warned him he wasn't going to be winning any future arguments about whether she had recovered enough to work as she pleased.

He sighed a little, but found his lips curving in a small, rueful smile. He had to admit, her defiance was.... cute. Maybe he _had_ been a bit overbearing and overprotective.... but it had been a hard winter for him as well, not knowing if she would recover, if she _could_ recover. Half-afraid that he'd lose her to the illness before...

He pushed the rest of that thought carefully away.

Feet padded across the floor, and there was a small wave of displaced water as someone splashed into the hot water. He cracked open an eye, and growled half-heartedly as Trevor made himself comfortable against a lip of rock.

“Oh get stuffed,” Trevor replied with a tired smile, leaning back against his chosen spot with a sigh. “Be glad I convinced Sypha to wait her turn, will you? She's ready to chew your ear off about all sorts of stuff, _including_ your human.”

“....why would she want to talk about Anna to me?”

“That's what people _do_ Alucard,” Trevor replied, closing his eyes. “We talk about each other _to_ each other, in the interest of either avoiding hurtful things, or creating hurtful things. I know you've been out of touch, but it's been... what, three years now?”

“....about that, yes. Two since you started visiting regularly.”

“Well, then you should be _vaguely_ familiar with this again, shouldn't you?”

He said it so reasonably that Alucard swept a small wave of water at him. Trevor spluttered a little, and lifted his head enough to glare. Alucard glared back, though it lacked much of the heat from earlier. He was just too _tired_ to maintain that level of irritation.

“Are you hear to soak, or be a nuisance?”

“....yes.”

Alucard groaned a little, and moved to get out. There wasn't much chance he'd be relaxing with Trevor constantly needling him, and if he didn't at least _try_, he was going to be all bruises and aches in the morning.

-

“....I've never seen a dragon move _stiffly_ before,” Sypha murmured to Anna as she tugged weeds out of the dirt.

Anna stifled a giggle, trying not to look directly at Alucard. She was fairly sure he was sulking, and she was inclined to let him. The fact that Trevor was also in dragon form and seemed to be sunbathing was beyond the point.

“Serves them right for fighting,” she replied, keeping her voice just as quiet.

“I would like it to be known that I only picked a fight because he needed the outlet,” Trevor said lazily from where he was laying, raising one taloned hand briefly before letting it flop back down onto the dirt. “And also because he was clearly being an arse.”

“Yes, because you're the expert on that, aren't you?” Alucard shot back, though the most he moved was his tail.

Trevor responded with a rude gesture that made Anna briefly cover her mouth, even as she tried not to laugh. Sypha snickered unrepentantly, tossing weeds in the nearby barrow for their eventual transport to one of the multitude of compost piles.

“He has a point,” and she smirked a little as Trevor half-opened one great eye to give her a sour look. “You _do_ have being an arse down to an art form.”

“Hey, when I'm _deliberately_ being an arse it's because someone needs it,” he replied loftily.

“So the rest of the time you're just doing it accidentally?” Alucard said dryly, amusement clear under the annoyance.

“Y... _hey_.”

Anna giggled quietly as Trevor now glared at the other dragon.

“No fire in the garden,” Sypha said mildly. “Especially not when the humans are in the way.”

Trevor snorted a little bit of smoke, before closing his eyes again.

“At least I _know_ when I'm being an arse,” he grumbled. “Some people remain patently oblivious to it.”

“I don't know, we could make the argument that you're always an arse, so it's more of a miracle when you're _not_ acting like one,” Alucard replied.

“If you're not even going to _try_ and get along, perhaps one of you should visit the other side of the tower,” Sypha suggested.

“Hey, I'm trying to nap,” Trevor said mildly. “It's not my fault I have good hearing.”

“Or perhaps a big ego, trying to eavesdrop and hear commentary about yourself?” Sypha teased.

Trevor rolled onto his side with care, then huffed at her again, if fondly.

“Was not.”

“Uh huh, _sure_ you weren't~”

Anna just shook her head a little in amusement, and snuck a glance at Alucard.

He'd stayed out all night, which wasn't abnormal, especially now that the weather was better, and spring was well advanced, but it didn't seem to have done him any favors. He _was_ moving stiffly, when he moved at all, and she'd caught him suppressing what looked like a wince if he moved too fast.

But on the plus side, he also seemed.... more amenable. Calmer. He was hovering, sure, but he wasn't pestering her every five minutes, or nudging at her to take a break when she paused in her work for a few moments to catch her breath. She was quite sure he was _listening_ _intently_ for anything that might be wrong... but he had backed off a little, enough that she didn't feel like she was going to be smothered by his attention.

Not that having his attention was _bad_. She _did_ like him. But having her own space had become important too.

She listened with half an ear as Trevor and Sypha bickered playfully, thoughtfully turning the soil. It was nice having them here, as a buffer. It meant she had to watch her words a little, but on the whole, the extra company made it a bit easier to push back when Alucard was being _too_ smothering.

Though talking with Sypha raised questions she was quite sure she ought not be considering... and as she snuck another glance over at Alucard, she wondered if he might not be asking himself the very same things.

-

“You could just ask her, you know,” Trevor said in wry amusement.

Alucard didn't look over at him as he carefully slathered the balm along his arms and what he could reach of his shoulders and back. It wasn't necessarily as good as what Anna had made, but it would help soothe the aches in the human body, which, at the moment, rather needed it.

“I'm fine.”

“Uh huh. You're _scared_.”

Very slowly and deliberately, Alucard put the jar down before he turned a look on Trevor that would have withered most other people. Trevor just stared back, arms folded over his chest.

“Don't think that being my cousin grants you immunity,” Alucard said lowly. “Or that your mage will be able to stop me if I really want to go for your throat.”

“Look, I'm not trying to start a fight,” Trevor said, lifting a hand slightly. “Not this time, at least. Just.... hear me out.”

It was easier to leave, but something about the look on Trevor's face made Alucard stay where he was.

“...I'm listening.”

“You let this girl stay in your tower, only asking that she take care of the gardens in trade,” Trevor said, ticking off points on his fingers. “You currently teach her magic. You've taken her out on walks as both human and dragon, showing her things about this forest I'm _pretty_ sure you didn't even show Sypha's ancestor. You take care of her when she's sick, and you spend at least half the night inside even after she's fallen asleep. And I know _she's_ affectionate, if painfully proper at times...”

Alucard snorted a little, raising an eyebrow.

“Does this have a point, Trevor? If so, please get to it.”

Trevor sighed, and shrugged.

“I just don't see why you're not making it easier on yourself. Anna'd probably be _happy_ to put that stuff on your back now that you're not being an arse. You know she likes helping. So I have to ask myself, what are you afraid _of_?”

It was a remarkably astute question, one that Alucard wasn't entirely sure he _could_ answer without sounding... well... _human_.

“I'm not _afraid_,” he said stiffly. “I'm.... reasonably cautious and wary.”

“....Pretty sure she's not leaving the tower voluntarily,” Trevor pointed out. “You are stuck with this human, for the rest of her life. And hell, it's not like anyone else's opinions on what goes on here is going to matter, right? At least you wont be fighting with her family about it...”

Alucard blinked at Trevor in moderate surprise. Trevor flushed a little and glanced to the side.

“...long story. Point being, you don't _have_ to be cautious or wary. She's happy here, she wants to _stay_ here. Why not make the most of it?”

“She may change her mind yet,” Alucard said a bit stubbornly. “Humans do this rapidly, and it would not be surprising if she tired of this place. I prefer to remain.... somewhat aloof to avoid too many complications.”

The years had passed quickly. She had grown, her body had matured, her mind was still doing the same. And while she hadn't brought it up, he didn't doubt that sometimes her thoughts turned towards her life as a princess. He didn't _want_ to know if she thought about those times, because then he would wonder if she wanted to go back, until he would be forced to ask the question.

If she wanted to go back, but was to afraid to say something.... would she ever say it? Was his presence blocking her from doing whatever it was she wanted, _truly_ wanted? Just because she never expressed it to his face didn't mean she couldn't still _want_ someone to rescue her from this life. And why wouldn't she?

Oh, but that thought hurt him. He could barely stand the knowledge that she would age and die, but the idea that someone would come and take her from the tower, take her from _him_...

When, he wondered abruptly, had he given his heart into her hands? Her, a small human, a small _princess_, who by all rights should fear him! And he should want nothing to do with her; it was _Sypha_ who was the one who had a right to the tower, not Anna.

And yet...

“....you okay there?” Trevor asked cautiously. “Alucard?”

“I need to leave,” he said abruptly, turning for the door. “Say _nothing_.”

“Alucard, I don't-”

Alucard swiftly left the room, the tower, and took to the sky. His body protested the abuse, but he couldn't stay indoors where the close walls, the low ceiling, would hem him in. He needed the open air, the strong winds that would help him clear his mind, look to the _logical_ decision instead of the dragon's desire that was trying to rule his thoughts.

He pointed himself northward, and soared into the silent night sky.

-

It was silly to be lonely. She had Sypha there, and Trevor too, and both were perfectly good company in long spring days and deep spring nights. Even with Trevor being curiously quiet about what he'd talked about with Alucard, it shouldn't have been something worth fussing over. Alucard came and went as he pleased. He was a _dragon_, he didn't owe her anything.

And yet...

And yet.

Anna sat on the garden bench and looked up at the star-studded sky, feeling horribly, achingly alone. As if some part of her had been yanked out and taken far from her, a part she hadn't even known _could_ go away. While she could arguably say it was very like him to leave with neither warning nor explanation, he hadn't done it in over a year. Whenever he'd _had_ to leave, for food of his own, or reasons otherwise undisclosed, he'd at least _warned_ her before hand that he would be away, but he would come back.

This time, nothing. He'd left when she'd been asleep, and left no message, no note. Trevor knew _something_, but he'd only said that Alucard had gone to clear his head, and that was the end of it.

“I miss you,” she whispered softly, unhappily hugging her knees to her chest. “Come home, please? I want you to come home. I... I need to tell you something, and it's important. Please...?”

The only response was crickets in the cool night. She could have stayed there for hours, but presently the door of the tower opened, and padded over to her, putting a hand on Anna's shoulder.

“Come on,” the mage said gently. “If you stay out here too long, you really _will_ relapse, and that wouldn't be a good way to welcome him back, now would it?”

Anna sighed a little forlornly, and allowed her friend to lead her back inside.

-

He stood on the pebbled beach in human form, so far north as to be the only humanoid around. The air held a permanent icy bite, but he paid it little mind, striding across the beach to the small stand of trees that stood above the tide line. At the heart of those trees was a clearing that grew wild and rampant a bare few weeks of the year, and a headstone at the very center.

Quietly he knelt before it, then reached out and touched the uncarved grave marker.

“I wish this had happened while you were alive, Mother,” he said quietly. “While you lived, and shared home and hearth with Father... I could use your sensible advice now more than ever. With... the other it wasn't so hard. He cared for the research, and while he sought friendship, he didn't seek more. No more did I. But...”

She was a child, an infant by dragon terms. And he _was_ a dragon, regardless of the humanity in his blood that gave him the form, the soul, of a dragon. He should not be considering her with an eye towards mating, towards wondering what a future with her as more than just a friend could be.

But he was. He had been trying hard to avoid it, but Trevor's somewhat careless words had bulled past the mental block he'd built and now the truth was spilled all over his mind and heart. He wanted Anna to be his. Not his princess, trapped and waiting for rescue; not _just_ a tenant of the tower. _His_.

“Was this what it was like for Father?” he wondered quietly, letting his hand fall away from the weathered stone. “I remember the way you two would look at one another, as though for a moment the world held nothing _but_ the two of you. Trevor does that sometimes, when he looks at Sypha....”

His father had taken his mother here, buried her in this empty place, and then vanished so completely that not even Alucard's own ties as kin could lead him. Sometimes he wondered if his father had died of a broken heart, loving a mortal that deeply. He'd tried to avoid that for himself, growing close, but not too close, and then leaving if things started to turn.

Could he force her to go, perhaps? She was older now, and wiser. He doubted she'd let her mother play that cruel trick a second time. Pushing her out, making her return to the palace to... what? To lose her freedom, her ability to choose? To be not who _she_ wanted to be, but whoever the expectations would turn her into? And whoever wedded her, would they understand her need for the outside? Would the let her garden, or would they refuse to understand that her magic expressed itself in the greenery?

He snarled a little, clenching his hands slightly.

He _couldn't_ do that to her. It would be a betrayal of everything he'd given her up to that point. If she loved someone else, well, he could handle that pain, but if she only did her duty, wedded because that was what was required of her....

Slowly he relaxed his hands and let out a breath. That was the truth then, laid bare before his mother's grave. He could no more push Anna out than he could go through with causing genuine harm to Trevor. If she left of her own accord...

But Trevor seemed convinced that she wouldn't, and Alucard had to admit that he was probably right. He'd never known her as the princess, but she seemed at peace in the tower, _happy_ with the life.

With him?

He was going to have to ask. Even if it meant ruining the idyll...

-

Perhaps it had been foolish to insist that they could go, but Anna wasn't going to be responsible for Sypha's family getting worried enough to send people searching for her. She was seventeen, not a child, and the tower's magic certainly filled in for any gaps in knowledge.

But it was so much _quieter_ without Trevor or Sypha there to distract her.

She looked forlornly out the window, and winced a little at the crash of lightning; she still liked rain, even liked the storms, but it would have been cozier, more comforting, if she'd had someone with her to count the time between strikes and thunder, or to distract her from her aching ankle and ribs by reading with her.

Maybe she should have let them stay. It hadn't bee so bad the first night, with the warm breeze softly belling out her curtains, but the days that followed with no sign of Alucard's return had made the aching loneliness just get worse. Where _was_ he? He'd never been away this long before, and Trevor's cryptic comment about him needing to get his head on straight really hadn't made her feel any better.

Restlessly, she got up and paced before the fire, hugging the blanket around her shoulders like a cloak. What if he was hurt, wherever he was? He was alone as far as she knew, maybe he'd been injured and couldn't make it back? But no, she knew the message system now, if something had happened to him, she would have been alerted.

Wouldn't she?

Had he left because of her? Had she done something to offend him? Surely he wasn't _that_ upset she'd been trying to assert her own independence... was he? No, no, that made no sense, he seemed to _like_ it when she got stubborn, even if it was over something silly.

A noise caught her attention, and she shot to the window, pushing it open and thrusting her head out into the rain, twisting to look up at the sky. Wingbeats. She was willing to _swear_ she'd heard those familiar wingbeats, and it _wouldn't_ have been Trevor. He took too much care with Sypha to fly around with her in weather like this, and she doubted there was much chance he'd visit alone, which had to mean...

A black figure, discernible among the gray clouds only because he was so much darker than they were, circled above the tower. She caught her breath and stared hard as the dragon circled lower and lower, then pulled back inside, banging the window shut as she did. She tossed the blanket aside as she scampered out of the room and down the stairs as fast as her feet could take her, managing to be on the main floor when the dragon landed with a ground-shivering thud.

Out the door she burst, not caring about shoes or a coat, or even giving him time to shift to a human form; she simply threw herself at Alucard in as enthusiastic a hug as she could offer. It might have been less comfortable to press her face against scales, but she was just so glad he was _back,_ she didn't much care about the discomfort.

After a moment he began to shrink, until her arms weren't splayed across a scaly chest that could easily flatten her if he just laid his head down; they were looped around his neck, tangling a bit in his hair though he seemed to neither care nor protest. His own arms came around her waist, pulling her up a little until she was on her toes, tucked so tightly against him that it would have been pure chance for even a drop of the cascading rain to come between.

Alucard held her tight, pressing his cheek to her hair and breathing in the mix of scents that spoke 'Anna' to him; the vanilla that she enjoyed having in her baths, the scent of the earth and green growing things, books and tea with honey.

He didn't stop to wonder if maybe she might not want to kiss him, he just shifted, freed a hand, and tipped her face up until his mouth was against hers. She made a muffled sound of surprise, going tense in his hold, but when she didn't pull away, he pushed a little more into the kiss, trailing his thumb softly across her cheek.

Lightning lashed out, hitting a tree in the forest close enough that Anna pulled back from the kiss with a small cry of alarm. Alucard's hold on her tightened enough to make her breathless, but he turned his head to follow her fearful gaze, and seemed as though he woke up from some sort of trance. He picked her up without preamble, and headed for the open tower door.

-

Anna hovered just outside the library, watching him uncertainly as he moved restlessly about the room. She could still feel the pressure of his mouth against hers, an echo of the conflicting cascade of emotions ringing in her mind. Tentatively she touched her fingers to her lips, and shivered a little.

He hadn't said a word when the main tower door had closed, but he'd set her on her feet and pointed sternly towards the baths. Nothing loathe—she had been soaked to the skin, and shivering in a combinations of fear and cold—she'd scampered for them, trying to sort out how she was feeling as she soaked in the heat and traded wet clothes for dry.

It hadn't been a gentle kiss, not really. There had been too much _wanting_ in it for it to be considered gentle. It had been....

Frightening.

She turned away from the library, and leaned against the stone wall, hugging herself.

Yes. It had been frightening. She had been too young to really feel much desire for others when she'd first been kidnapped, and they had both spent the past three years trying to deny anything greater than a cautious friendship. So to feel his desire for her in that kiss.... It was frightening.

And yet...

She bit her lower lip uncertainly, then turned and stepped into the library. Alucard's pacing immediately stopped, but he made no move to approach. He looked, she thought, _embarrassed_.

Had he not meant to kiss her like that?

“...Alucard?”

He looked at her, then looked away, hands clenching briefly. There was half a room between them, but he was so tense...

Tentatively she approached, measuring each step before she took it. It felt like it took an eternity to cross that space between, and she stopped when she was still beyond arm's reach. He was trembling slightly, and concern washed through her; was he ill?

“Are... are you okay?”

“...I am neither harmed, nor ill...”

“That's not an answer. Where did you go? Why....” Her voice caught slightly, hands curling in the skirt fabric. “W-why did you leave like that? I... I've been _worried_ about you!”

There was a flash of emotion too quick to read, and he took a half-step forward of his own before visibly checking himself.

“I... needed the answer to some questions that came up,” he said softly. “I needed them immediately. I... apologize. I didn't want to cause you distress.”

“...well you _did._ Was it worth it to get your answers?”

It sounded petty and childish the moment the words slipped out. She should be happy he was back, should be relieved he'd returned to the tower and to her. But now she was confused, hurt, and a little upset.

“Anna....”

It was her turn to look away as she felt the prickle and burn of building tears. She heard him sigh a little, and then his steps quickly crossed the space between them until he had her wrapped up in his hold again. The thin veneer of temper cracked to pieces as she burst into tears and wrapped her arms around him in return.

Alucard just held her as she cried, stroking her hair gently. Anger had covered fear, if not very well, and guilt pricked at him sharply with each shuddering sob. Where had Trevor and Sypha gone; why had she not asked them to stay? Would this have been less dramatic if they had been there, or more awkward?

When he shifted his grip on her slightly, she surprised him by holding tighter. It eased one type of tension even as it caused another, and after a moment he simply sat back, trusting the tower to provide _something_ for them to land on.

'Something' turned out to be a small couch, and he tucked her properly onto his lap to cry herself out. He reaction seemed almost disproportionate, unless...

When her tears had stilled, and her breathing evened out some, he began to speak.

“My mother was human,” he said quietly. “She lived in the northern wilds, and tracked my father down out of sheer stubborn desire to be more than just mildly knowledgeable about plants. My father is old, probably one of the oldest dragons in human history. He's done many bad and cruel things, but by the time Mother found him, he was just... tired. She gave him new life, and he decided that he wanted to be with her, until her life ended. I was their only child.”

He reached out and picked up the handkerchief as Anna shifted, tucking it into her hand before she could ask.

“Mother died of old age, as humans do,” he continued, letting his other hand lightly run up and down Anna's back. “My father took her far to the north, and buried her in a place where only a dragon can reach, and no one has seen him since, not even me. I... visit her grave sometimes. When I leave you. She's not there, I know that, but it helps to pretend.”

He felt her nod a little, and lightly leaned his cheek against her head. If he didn't ask this now, he never would.

“Anna... if I said I don't want you to... to ever go back to a human life.... To _your_ human life,” he amended. “To forgo you family, your palace, status and stature.... And just stay with me, _be_ with me, be... be _mine_ as much as any one being can belong to another... Would you be open to that?”

Alucard didn't bother trying to keep the need out of his voice; there would have been no point. He _did_ need her, and he hadn't even realized how much until he'd had her in his arms, his mouth against hers. If not for the lightning...

If not for the lightning, he might have made a very bad mistake.

The silence stretched, and the tension built. He couldn't force an answer out of her, but the lack of one, the utter stillness of her in his arms....

“...I've known my whole life that I'd never be able to really make a choice,” she said finally, her voice still somewhat raspy from her crying fit. “I know my duty to my people, to my country, and it's never been my decision who I'd marry, or where I'd go. I'm a princess. My life is dictated by politics, and while I might have some _small_ say in my choice of candidates, in the end, it would have been my parents making the choice for me.”

She shuddered a little, and he curled his arms around her a little more, protectively, even as his heart sank. If she was saying things like this...

“I-”

“I'm not finished,” she said a touch sharply. “I'm just... let me talk for a bit, all right? I'm... I don't know how I feel, and you've jumbled everything up, so let me think aloud.”

Obligingly he fell silent, though he couldn't help the slight curl of his mouth; jumbling everything up hadn't been a plan, but it pleased him to know that he'd done it anyways.

“I still... don't know for sure what happened. I know what you said, I want to believe you, but I still.... I can't help doubting a little bit. Why... why would my own _mother_ arrange something like that, like it was some sort of game?” He heard the leashed pain in her voice, and only nuzzled the top of her head briefly. “But you... you've never really lied to me either. Kept secrets, sure, but.... but everyone keeps secrets, even from the people they're closest too. Because.... because some things are private, and don't need to be shared.”

She went quiet again, then shifted a little, her fingers curling loosely in his shirt as if seeking comfort. Wanting to give her what he could, he curled his arms around her a bit more.

“I think maybe she did do it, and part of me wants to.... wants to confront her about it. But if I go back, it'll be swept under the rug. I know it will. Because I'll be _back_, and then the details of what happened won't matter to anyone but me, and I'm not powerful enough to demand those answers.... I'm even less powerful than I would have been if I'd continued to play my part as a princess.

“And being out here, in the tower... I don't answer to anyone. Well,” she amended, “I sometimes answer to you when you're being pushy and bossy, but... But mostly I don't answer to anyone. It's up to me to decide what to do with the day, it's up to _me_ to figure out what I want to wear, or what I ought to eat. I've learned how to cook, how to garden, I even know some _magic,_ which I never would have learned as a princess. I.... I have friendships that are real, and based on someone knowing me before they know my title, a-and...”

She hesitated. He felt her push back, lean away from him a little, and though he didn't want to let her go, he did not try to hold her close. Her hand came up and touched his face, and he looked at her after a moment, down into green eyes that had entranced him since she'd first looked into his, no matter how hard he tried to deny it.

“You told me,” she said quietly, “that you didn't want me to get attached to this form. Because you're a dragon. Did you change your mind?”

“...yes,” he said softly, and he lifted his hand to touch her cheek. “I have.”

“Why?”

The question startled him, and he blinked down at her.

“Why?” he echoed.

“Yes. Why? Why did you change your mind?”

Alucard blinked. While he hadn't exactly thought she would throw herself into his arms the moment he declared his desire for her—for one thing she was much more reserved than that, previous reaction aside—he hadn't exactly thought she'd _question_ it.

But she was. She was staring up at him, her chin stuck out slightly in that set look he'd come to recognize as her getting hung up on something, and not budging until she got an answer.

“Because....” he hesitated. “Sypha suggested it first... That you needed more than a dragon. More than a guardian. You needed a... a friend. And I needed to remember how to be human. And at first.... at first that was really all it was going to be. I was going to let you live your life, but I planned to be here, to guard you from those who might find the tower one day, try to force you back before you were ready to go. Human or dragon, I can do that task easily.”

Alucard went quiet, then sighed a little.

“I didn't want to get close to you, or any human,” he admitted softly. “Your lives burn so bright, but they burn out so fast. I wasn't sure I could take having another friend, only to know that the time is limited, that eventually... you will burn out and leave me behind. And yet before I knew it, I had a craving to see you smile. To listen to you talk about what you'd read in the library before bed, to watch you struggle with learning all the skills you've gained and cheer you on to gain even more.”

He took in a breath, then let it out slowly.

“Like my father, I fell for a human,” he said softly, simply. “I became _yours,_ Anna, even as I tried to deny it was happening. I changed my mind because there's no other way for me to be with you _except_ by changing. And if you don't want me the same way, I can accept that. I can stay your friend and your protector.”

It would never be enough, but he was human enough to know that he couldn't force her to choose the way he wanted her to. He couldn't have her unwillingly, that was wrong, the emotion of it was all wrong. And he cared about her friendship just as much as he desired her love. He would not sacrifice the one for the other.

“...I apologize for... what happened outside,” he finished quietly. “I should not have done that without permission.”

Silence fell, and then stretched. He found he couldn't look at her now, torn between shame at his lack of control and fear for how she would respond to his request. He had laid himself bare for her, and now all he could do was wait.

“If I let you kiss me again.... could you do it gentle?” she finally said. “You.... that was... frightening. Too strong.”

Of course it had been too strong; he'd been lost in the exultation of the storm, in the desire humming through his body at her nearness. He hadn't taken thought for her desires, for her nature.

“If you'll let me, I will kiss you as gently as the rain.”

Anna shifted. Lifted her face. Alucard hesitated, then leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, letting his eyes close as she kissed back with a tentative, uncertain pressure. After a moment, Anna closed her eyes as well, and tried to think it through.

At fourteen, she hadn't even had a crush on any of the courtier's sons; even if she had, she wouldn't have allowed herself to think about more than maybe holding hands. Anything more than that could have gotten her and whoever else she might have liked into trouble. And while both Trevor and Sypha were _huggy_, they only kissed each other.

All the books of romance had said that kisses of true love were supposed to feel exciting. Terrifying even, being swept away in emotions beyond the pale.

But she didn't feel that. She only felt... warm. Safe and protected. Secure in the knowledge that she was.... loved. Of all things. She was loved by a dragon.

And she loved herself a dragon.

When he started to draw away, she pulled him back, twining her fingers in his hair to keep him close. Soft kisses, he'd said, like the rain. Well, the rain could be soft, or the rain could be fierce, and she wanted to surprise _him_ for a change.

Alucard went with it, responding in kind as she pushed more into the kiss. As her fingers tangled in his hair, so he cupped her head, flattening the crinkles of her hair as his other hand traveled up her spine, planting itself between her shoulder blades. He would kiss her as long as she wanted to be kissed, and do more than that if she asked for more.

Slowly though, Anna eased her grip and drew back from him. Not far, no, just enough to speak.

“I'll stay with you,” she breathed, heart shuddering a staccato beat in her chest. “I'll be yours as you say you're mine. I don't... I don't want anything else.”

And before he could say anything else, she sealed the promise with a kiss.

-

For Alucard, the matter was settled. For Anna...

“You don't think it's selfish?” she asked Sypha, who was back for yet another visit.

“Well... maybe a little?” the mage offered after a moment. “But we're all allowed to be selfish sometimes. And I don't see why you _wouldn't_ choose to stay, honestly. He's devoted to you and your happiness, which is a lot more than I can say for some _human_ men I know.”

Blue eyes rolled in disgust and Anna couldn't help but giggle, if sheepishly.

“Why are you bothered by it?” Sypha asked after a moment. “He's happy. Aren't you?”

“Yes, but.... it's...”

Anna sighed. Maybe it was time to come clean, and hope for the best.

“I feel... It feels selfish to place what I want over the... the needs of the people,” she admitted. “It's not what a princess is supposed to do. We're... well, I was _taught_ that we're supposed to put our duty before all else, and.... and I haven't done that. I... I've _abandoned_ all that, really...”

Sypha blinked. Blinked again.

“Wait. Wait wait wait. _You're_ a princess?”

“...uh huh...”

“You're not....”

Anna looked down at her knees, embarrassed. After a moment of stunned silence, Sypha burst out laughing.

“Oh, oh this is too _perfect!_” she chortled. “This really _is_ a princess in a tower situation!”

“It's not _funny_, Sypha,” Anna protested, hurt. “That's still a thing that could happen if you tell anyone, and it would put Trevor in danger too, you know.”

“I won't tell,” Sypha replied immediately, wiping tears of amusement from her eyes. “I won't, I swear. But you have to admit it's kind of funny.”

“....It's really not,” she grumbled, folding her arms across her chest. “It's terrifying. I don't want Alucard to get hurt, I don't want _anyone_ to get hurt. But.... but I...”

“Okay, okay, back up and tell me the story.”

So Anna did, and by the time she was done, Sypha was no longer amused.

“And you still kind of want to go _back_?” she demanded.

“Not... not to stay,” Anna said meekly. “I just... I want to know if it's true. That's all. I do... I trust Alucard. I know he wouldn't lie to me, but I... I _wonder_ because I didn't hear it myself, a-and...”

Sypha shook her head a little, then draped an arm around Anna's shoulders in a quick hug.

“Okay, look. Do you trust me?”

Anna nodded.

“Trevor and I can go into your city then, and snoop around. We won't stand out _half_ as much as Alucard would.”

“...well, Trevor might not, but you will,” Anna said with a tiny smile. “Your hair is much more vibrant than any local.”

“Bah. I can hide that easily enough. Just because I'm better with the elements doesn't mean I don't know how to make a good disguise,” Sypha replied, poking Anna's cheek gently. Anna giggled, and the mage continued, “I'll find proof one way or the other, and then you won't have to feel bad any more.”

“I can't ask you to do that,” Anna protested.

“Good thing you're not asking~”

Anna grumbled a little, then leaned against Sypha;s shoulder.

“No, I'm asking you to _not_ do it, Sypha. It's fine. I... I've made my decision, I'm not planning on leaving the tower, or Alucard.”

“You're sure? I mean, it's no trouble...”

“I'm sure,” Anna said firmly. “A-and.... you know, even if I did go back, he's not likely to let me go without him. If I had to, I could name him the person who rescued me from the tower, and then it wouldn't be a problem at all.”

Sypha snickered.

“It would probably annoy the nobles who've been trying to find you, to have some unknown nobody whisk you away.”

“...I don't doubt, but... well...”

Anna shrugged a little helplessly. After a moment, Sypha ruffled her hair gently.

“I really am glad for you, you know,” she said gently. “And... maybe a little jealous.”

“Jealous? Of me?”

Sypha grinned.

“No, of Alucard~ He's lucky to get your love.”

Anna blushed, and gave her friend a shy push.

-

The seasons continued their inexorable march on, and the routines that Anna had grown accustomed to finally began to solidify. While Alucard still spent about half his time as a dragon, it was mostly during the day, keeping sharp watch about his forest. Nights were spent human, and most nights she was curled against him as snug as she could have ever hoped to be.

Time moved forward softly; they explored the relationship, and each other with care, curiosity, and desire, until it was easy enough to say that they knew each other as well as any lovers could. He still went off on his own sometimes, but never without warning, and always with a promised day to return.

First her eighteenth, then nineteenth birthday passed, and they discussed the possibility of children. Sypha and Trevor were certainly in the process of trying for their own, having made themselves permanent members of the tower not more than six months after Sypha's twentieth birthday. They still made visits to Sypha's family, but now they spent most of their time—and the long winters—at the tower.

(“How do we know if it's a dragon or a human?” Sypha had asked one night, giving Alucard a curious look.

“Dragons are born with teeth,” and Alucard had flashed his fangs in a small smirk. “Human babies are not.”

“.....how on earth does the human mother nurse?”

“She doesn't. We drink the blood of our prey, not-”

Trevor reached over and smacked him upside the head, making both women giggle.

“Don't _scare_ them,” he grumbled.

Alucard rubbed his head lightly, then shrugged in amusement.

“We are born with the two fangs,” and he pointed to his own. “But the rest do not come in for some months. Mother would occasionally cite that as the reason she didn't have any other children after me, as there is a bit of puncture danger... but half-dragons tend to mature far more quickly than a normal human babe, according to what I remember her telling me. So you will not have to nurse long.”

“Not terribly comforting, but... informative,” Sypha said dryly.

“You're quite welcome.”)

Anna couldn't recall ever being so content and at peace.

Naturally, it all came crashing down in the days before her twentieth birthday.

-

“I'll be _fine_, Alucard,” she said, giving him a small push. “I'm only three months in, there's no need to fuss.”

“There's plenty of need to fuss,” he retorted, pulling her in close and rubbing his fingers along her stomach briefly. “You deserve to be fussed over.”

She leaned up and kissed his cheek gently.

“You can fuss over me when you get back then,” she said practically. “And really, it's all right. Trevor and Sypha should be back by the end of the week, and it won't take you that much longer after, right?”

He sighed a little, reluctantly, and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“I'll be perfectly safe in the tower, you know this.”

“You won't overwork yourself?”

“I won't overwork myself,” she said solemnly. “But there _is_ work to be done, and you know that perfectly well. It would be a waste to do nothing with this lovely weather.”

A rueful smile crossed his face, and she leaned up to give him a small, proper kiss.

“Besides, the sooner you leave, the sooner you can find out if the rumors are true and come back,” Anna pointed out. “I know you're leery about the idea, but I'd like to meet your father, if he wants to do the same.”

“...leery is not the word I'd use,” Alucard grumbled a little.

“The word you'd use is impolite,” she teased gently. “And something you picked up from Trevor at that.”

“I am not _that_ uncouth.”

Anna giggled, and nestled contentedly against him.

“Really though, soonest left is soonest returned,” she said with cheerful practicality. “I'll be waiting.”

He sighed a little, and kissed her temple.

“Should I bring something back?”

“Hmmm....”

Anna thought for a moment, then shrugged and smiled fondly.

“Surprise me~”

He grinned a little, and swept her up for a minute, pressing his mouth down onto hers with a soft desire. She returned the kiss warmly, and tried not to cling to him. While everything she was saying _was_ true, she knew she was going to miss him terribly, even after Sypha and Trevor returned. She always did, and always counted the days until he returned to her.

“Be safe,” she murmured when he pulled back.

“And you,” he replied, placing one last kiss on her cheek before shifting forms to the iridescent black dragon that no longer held even a hint of fear for her. “Ten days at most, and if I have trouble, I'll send word.”

Anna nodded, and lifted a hand to protect her face as he took off, closing her eyes briefly as the dust and dirt rose from the heavy downbeat of his wings. She stood there as he ascended, rising on thermals and air currents until he was nothing more than a black speck against the blue and white of the spring sky, then sighed, and looked to the gardens.

“...I did say I wouldn't _over_work,” she murmured, lightly running her fingers over her stomach, “but what your papa doesn't know won't hurt him.”

Humming faintly to keep herself from thinking how it was already too quiet, too lonely, she went and collected her tools from the small, non-magical shed she and Sypha had built two summers back... mostly because they both got tired of the tools they had gotten used to disappearing and being replaced by new ones. The weight of the hoe in her hands was a comfort, and the basket full of seeds, ready to be planted, made her beam with pride. Her first year she'd barely been able to clear and tend _one_ of the garden plots, but now she could weed, water, and plant in all of them.

She brought out the seeds and the hoe, then set to careful work, making neat rows in the dirt and singing with as much sincere cheer as she could muster while she did so.

All she had to do was make it through four days before Trevor and Sypha would be back, and it would be a little less quiet, a little more lively. Trevor would try to sneak up on her and get hit with _something_, because he always did. Sypha would laugh at him, and they would all work on getting the spring planting done.

They would, she knew with wry humor, probably insist that she _had_ worked too hard without someone there to keep watch over her, but then, she didn't want to waste the day. It was sunny and warm, and smelled of green growing things. The only thing that would have made it perfect was... well....

She pulled her thoughts away from where they had been going, feeling heat rise in her cheeks. It was silly to feel shy or embarrassed, considering she was carrying his baby, but she _did_ feel shy and embarrassed; leftovers, undoubtedly, from the first fourteen years of her life where such things were considered private, personal, and taboo.

Of course, not knowing anything about anything had made such privacy impossible. Fortunately, Sypha hadn't teased her _too_ much.

The first day passed with a comforting quickness, and the second was similar. It was a little too quiet, a little too empty, but she managed to enjoy it more than feel discomfort.

On the third day, when she stepped out after lunch, she yipped in alarm at the sight of an armored man on a tall horse. The knight held the reins loosely in one hand, and flipped up his visor with the other studying her with eyes that were a deep, fathomless blue. He was pale, which marked him as foreign, and had a wealth of dark stubble on his chin.

“Would you be able to spare some water for my horse?”

Something about the tone of his voice bothered her. It was a little too crisp, a little too precise. But after a moment, Anna nodded, moving uncertainly away from the tower and its promise of safety towards the well that supplied the garden with water. Horse and knight followed her and it took everything she had to not break into a run.

She gave herself a sharp mental shake; there was no need to be afraid. It had been five years, almost six; who would recognize her as princess now? There was nothing... dainty or delicate about the strength in her shoulders or arms, and while her hair remained long, there was nothing elaborate about the braids she tied it back into, or the loose and comfortable clothing she wore to work in the garden.

“Have you lived here long?” the knight asked as she worked the winch that would bring up the full bucket.

“Mm... a few years.”

“Not the most hospitable of places,” he observed.

“The forest? I suppose not. Winters can get... harsh sometimes. And there's lots of rumors surrounding these woods, I know. But the tower takes care of its tenants,” and she smiled a little over at the tall stone building. “It used to be owned by a wizard.”

“Hmph. No place for a lady alone.”

“It suits me well enough, and I'm not alone,” she retorted, locking the winch in place and reaching for the bucket. “My family should return shortly.”

It made her smile a little, the thought of seeing Trevor and Sypha again, of not being the only person in the tower. Sypha had been making noises about getting cats, and Anna was all for it; the trick was finding cats that wouldn't be afraid of the dragons...

She set the bucket before the horse as the knight finally dismounted, looking about him in a way that made her take a step closer to the well. It wasn't much protection, but he was currently between her and the tower; she would take what she could get if he was going to turn abruptly hostile.

“Can you recommend the fastest way out?”

“.....no, I'm sorry,” and she shrugged lightly. “I ended up here by rather... _unconventional_ means, and I've never wanted to leave.”

She reached for the empty bucket as the horse let out a gusty sigh, turning to reattach it to the hook.

“Unconventional, Princess? Such as falling down a cliff, perhaps?”

Anna almost dropped the bucket, alarm spurting through her.

“...p-princess?” and she managed a weak laugh. “I'm not a princess! What princess would live in a dragon's tower?”

“One who was kidnapped years ago from her birthday party, and then had an accident on the nearby cliff, perhaps?”

Slowly she turned to face him, bucket handle clenched tightly in her hands. There was a thin smile on the knight's face, somewhere between smugly pleased and supercilious.

“....I'm not going with you,” she said finally, giving up any hope of pretense. “I don't need rescuing.”

“I'm afraid, Princess, that leaving you here is not an option. My orders were very explicit. You need to come with me now.”

He took a step forward, hand outstretched; Anna gripped the bucket tightly, then threw it at him as hard as she could. In the moment his arm came up to protect his face, she dodged around him, darting for the tower. If she could just get inside...

Three sharp, clanking steps later, a hand grabbed one of her braids and yanked her back, hard. Anna yelped in pain and fear, spinning to throw a haphazard punch. Her fist glanced off the knight's armor, and he caught her wrist in a strong grip, fastening something around it before she could blink. A heaviness settled over her limbs and she looked at her arm in befuddlement. The knight caught her other wrist, snapping a silver bracelet on that arm as well, and she dropped, unable to hold herself up.

“W...wha...”

“Apologies, princess, but it wouldn't do for you to be unruly,” and he _almost_ sounded genuinely apologetic. “Once we get you back to the palace, you'll be free of the dragon's enchantment, and I'm sure... amenable to what follows.”

The silver bracelets sapped all the strength from her body, leaving her unable to even lift her head. As he lifted her carefully onto the horse, darkness touched the edges of her vision. When he mounted behind her, it filled her sight, and the last visible image was that of the seeds in their basket that she'd been ready to plant.

-

She spent three days in an enclosed carriage, and was never allowed out on her own. Every now and again, one bracelet would be removed and she would be allowed to do something for herself, but she was never left _to_ herself. Never given the opportunity to run like she wanted, or even to fight back against what had happened; if she tried, the knight would simply smile indulgently and ignore her. His servants were worse.

Her captors numbered five total; the knight was Sir Quintain Janaro, from a kingdom to the north. One woman who played the dutiful maidservant, handling Anna's needs, and three men who seemed to serve Janaro's every whim. They seemed less inclined to care about her protests than the knight himself, and more than once she was reduced to frustrated tears because there was simply nothing she could _do_ about the situation.

Two of the three days they camped at the edges of towns, never allowing the villagers too close to the campsite. The spelled bracelets forced Anna to be compliant, going where they moved her, and giving her little energy to be awake, let alone speak.

Before they entered the city she was bathed and dressed at an inn, in a gown far too elaborate and heavy for the warm spring weather, then placed into an open carriage, propped upright by the unnamed maidservant on one side. Janaro nodded, a thin, pleased smile on his face, then motioned for the carriage driver to move ahead.

The noise of the city was an assault after years in the forest; people were cheering as the carriage passed down the streets, and throwing flowers down from their windows, or up from the streets. It wasn't hard to guess that Janaro had sent some sort of message ahead to inform her parents that he'd 'rescued her', and they had thus informed the populace of her return.

Part of her was admittedly touched; she had been dead middle of her brothers, and even being the only girl hadn't necessarily meant that she'd be given attention when she'd wanted it. That was part of _why_ she'd been so diffident, and still was to a point. Being simply given attention because she _asked_ for it, felt rather.... novel.

But the rest of her continued to seethe. They hadn't been able to remove her dragonscale necklace, the marriage token Alucard had given her when she'd asked for one, but it didn't mean the same thing to these people. They wouldn't see it and _know_ she was a dragon's wife, wouldn't understand the significance of what they were currently doing.

It was almost a tour of the city, taking her down streets that she had long forgotten, or never known before the carriage finally made it to the palace courtyard, where her brothers, mother, and father all waited to greet the triumphant return of the knight who had rescued the princess.

She was less helped down from the carriage as carried, but finally, _finally_, one of the bracelets was removed.

“Be calm and polite,” Janaro murmured as he looped her arm through his, “or I will put it back on.”

Anna gave him a sharp glare, and kept her touch as light as possible. She only needed his support for a few steps as her energy trickled back, but that few steps was enough to be within range of her parents.

“Welcome back, Sir Janaro!” the king said a beaming smile upon his bearded face. “You bring back one of the greatest treasures of our kingdom!”

“Oh Marianna,” her mother gushed, reaching forward to cup Anna's face in her hands. “It's been so long, we've missed you so much! It must have been such a harrowing ordeal-”

Anna jerked her head back before the queen could touch her, making the queen's happy smile falter a little. Janaro squeezed her arm against his and she hissed a little;the metal plate he'd elected to wear was unyielding, and she was bound to have at least one bruise from the brief interaction.

“I am pleased to have been of service, your majesties,” Janaro said with a beatific smile on his face. “But I am afraid her highness has been exhausted since her rescuing, and would undoubtedly feel better for some rest in a proper bed.”

“Oh, of course, of course! You,” and the king snapped out a hand at the maidservant, “take the princess to her chambers and put her to bed! Sir Janaro, if you would step this way so that we may discuss the rewards that were promised...”

Janaro bowed, allowing Anna's weight to be taken from him by the maidservant. The queen stepped up on Anna's other side, and she felt something slip from her arm. Immediately she began to feel more energetic, and shot a sharp glance at the knight; what _would_ her parent think if she told them he'd enchanted her to make her pliable to his whims?

“Don't you worry dear, we'll have you tucked up in a proper nightgown, and ready for your rest soon,” the queen said confidently as they led Anna into the palace. “We'll have to make some adjustments, of course, but getting your measurements shouldn't take too long. You didn't shoot up to your father's height, that's wonderful~ I was so worried you grow too tall; no prince wants to look _up_ at his princess, after all.”

People bowed and curtsied as she passed, and whispers followed in her wake as she was lead down halls that had become hazy with the passing of time. Little yappy dogs chased other little yappy dogs, servants bustled about with linens or trays, runners carried messages, and finally they reached the corner room that had been the first of Anna's suite since she had been moved out of the nursery.

The first thing she did when the door closed was pull away from both the maid servant and her mother, putting several feet between them as fast as she could in a gown she no longer knew how to walk in.

“Come now dear, we'll get you into a comfortable gown-”

“Why did you do it?” Anna demanded, cutting her off. “When I was fourteen, what made you think a pretend kidnapping would be _anything_ but traumatizing for me? Do you even _understand_ how afraid I was, wondering if I was going to be beaten, or raped, or killed?!”

“Now Marianna, it was-”

“If you say 'it was for the best' I swear to you, I will _scream_. Best for whom?! Just because I'm safe and alive doesn't mean that what you did was _right_! I could have _died!_”

“Ah, but you didn't,” and the queen moved forward, hands outstretched.

In one hand she held the other silver bracelet, and Anna swung quickly out of reach. So much for thinking her parents would be insulted by the enchantment...

“Don't _touch_ me,” she snapped. “No one's _rescued_ me, he _kidnapped_ me!”

“Now, now, I'm sure Sir Janaro's actions will be more welcome once you've shed the-”

“They will _not!_” Anna sad vehemently. “He _kidnapped_ me from my home, took me away from the friends I've made and the husband _I chose_.”

That seemed to stop the queen, who stared at her for a long moment.

“...nonsense child, you cannot have a husband.”

“I can and I have!” And she hooked a thumb under her necklace, pulling it over the neck of the dress. She knew what they would see; a necklace set with small, black scales that shone iridescent in the light. “This is the token he gave me when I asked. I married the dragon who guarded the tower, and _chose that life_. You _don't_ get to take that away from me, even if you are my mother!”

“I see your manners have deteriorated in your time away,” and the queen sighed a little, stepping forward with the bracelet in hand. “Here, why don't you-”

Anna lashed out without a second thought, slapping her mother's hand hard enough to send the bracelet across the room and into the fireplace.

“If you put those things on me again, I will _let_ Alucard destroy the palace when he comes,” she said sharply.

“If a dragon comes to the palace, he will be killed,” her mother retorted just as sharply.

“It's not an 'if', mother, it's a 'when', and if you want to save the palace and possibly yourself, you will _let me go home_.”

“You are overwrought,” the queen said sharply.

“Yes, I am! Because you're not listening to me! I have been _kidnapped_, not _rescued_, and I will _keep saying that_ until you let me go!”

“The only place you will be going is to the lands your father gives Sir Janaro once you have wed him,” the queen said firmly. “Because that is the way of things, and how the situation must be handled.”

“....if you think I will let that man put his hands on me in _any_ way, _voluntarily_, you are going to be in for a surprise,” Anna retorted. “I'm not a child any more that you can order about, and I _will not_ go with him!”

“You certainly are _acting_ childish,” the queen said with a frown. “We'll talk more once you're calmed down, I think. Perhaps by then you'll be more willing to listen to reason.”

“_I'm_ being- You're the one who's refusing to listen!”

The queen shook her head gently, and headed for the door, taking the maidservant with her. It didn't surprise Anna one bit to hear the lock click, but the moment it did, she turned to vent her temper on the hapless furniture strewn around the room. She didn't care that she broke spindly table legs, or overturned chairs, she just needed a way to spend the furious energy that had built over the past three days.

Exhausted at last she stumbled into the bedroom and fell to the floor at the foot of the bed, weeping tears of frustrated misery. Trevor and Sypha would have already returned to the tower, they ought already be planning something. But her warning hadn't been an idle threat; once Alucard found she'd been kidnapped, it was _his_ fury she was worried about easing. Bad enough to be kidnapped as it was, but she was pregnant with his child; what fury would that add to the situation?

And how was she going to make sure that the innocent people caught in the middle weren't punished as well?

-

Alucard backwinged and landed hard, shifting to human form immediately so that he could grab Trevor's shirt.

“Where _is_ she?” he demanded. “Who took my Anna?!”

Trevor winced a little, but Alucard was too furiously afraid to really care that he might be hurting his cousin. His mate and their unborn were missing; _calm_ was not really a word he was going to be associated with until they, until _Anna_, was found.

“Sypha's working it out,” Trevor replied, strain in his voice. “She was having trouble getting the tower to cooperate when she asked for something of Anna's to use as a focus.”

Alucard snarled a little, and thrust away from Trevor hard enough to make his cousin stumble. He could snarl at the mage, but that wouldn't make her work faster. And snarling at the tower was pointless; it was only obeying the directive that it protect the beings living within the walls.

He brought his hand up to the necklace at his throat; Anna didn't have scales, so they had used the next best thing. Strands of her hair, bound tight and placed in a small glass bottle.

“Does she still need something?” he asked, breathing hard. He had to at least _try_ to hold back the rage and fear, if only because he had nothing to take it out on.

“It would help, yeah,” Trevor said cautiously. “But-”

“But _what_?”

“....but whatever gets used is going to need to be replaced.”

“If it leads us to Anna, I don't care,” Alucard said shortly, pulling the necklace over his head. “Take it, use it. _Find her_.”

-

“It's just a calming draft, princess, nothing to worry about.”

Anna sniffed the mug, looked at the healer, then turned the cup upside down, letting the contents drain onto the carpet.

“I will not be drugged,” she said tightly. “I will not be treated as though I have lost my wits. And I was _most certainly_ not be lied to about something designed to make me lose my child.”

The healer paled, then swallowed hard.

“P-princess, I-”

“I know plants,” Anna said shortly. “I have my own magical abilities.” Then, a little more gently. “I know you are only acting under orders from their majesties, and I do not blame you for obeying those orders. But I will not calm down. I will not be made _lesser_ because that is what is _convenient_ for them. And they _cannot_ take my child from me.”

If Alucard learned they had _tried_... the idea made her shiver; no, no, she had no reason to tell him that.

“...you _are_ overwrought, though,” the healer said tentatively.

“Wouldn't you be, in my place? I don't want to _be_ here, I want to be _home_.”

“No, I mean.... you do need to try and remain calm. To avoid a stress miscarriage,” the healer clarified. “As you seem to want to keep the child, I... would be remiss in my duties to advise you in any other manner, highness.”

Anna blinked, let out a slow breath and rubbed her hands over her face.

“That can happen?”

“It can,” and the healer gestured to a stool, which Anna obediently sank onto after a moment. “I was told that you didn't wish the child, but weren't able to leave your room for.... recovery reasons. You seem hale and healthy to me, and....”

Anna curled her hands protectively over her stomach.

“This is my child,” she said softly. “Mine and his. We planned for this, we both agreed we wanted it, even if we're not sure we're ready. I can't lose them...”

The healer sighed a little, and nodded.

“Then you have my most sincere apologies, your highness. Have you much.... knowledge on the subject?”

“...a little. My... friend, she's a mage, she told me about... some of the things that can happen, but the tower books were geared more towards magic, research, or relaxation, not.... not really children.”

“All right then. Let's see what I can do to expand your knowledge, hm?”

-

“I will tear it down brick by _brick_ if I must-”

“You will _not!_” Sypha said forcefully. “For one thing, you'll put hundreds of innocent lives in danger, _including_ Anna's if you go in there ready to burn and destroy. For another, _you'll_ be in danger! The number of knights, soldiers, _and_ magic users housed in the capital of Ederia is nothing to sneeze at, Alucard! We need to _plan_.”

“....I'm with her,” Trevor said after a moment. When Alucard snarled at him, he raised his hands defensively. “Look, I want Anna to be back here with us just the same as you, but you're not _invincible_, Alucard. Going on a rampage might sound therapeutic, but what's it going to accomplish in the end? Especially if you die?”

Alucard snarled a little, wanting, _needing_ something to shred in a bid to get out this temperament. Because as much as he hated admitting it, _they were right_.

A pillow came to hand and was quickly rended into nothing but feathers and shreds of fabric. It took three more until he was at least managing to _pretend_ calm, at which point he turned back to his family and gave them sharp looks.

“The first step is getting to the capital,” Sypha said, waving some feathers out of her face. “That shouldn't be too hard with you both being able to act human. The palace will be trickier, but if I remember rightly, the next thing after a rescue would be a wedding.”

Alucard snarled slightly; he had wedded Anna in the ways of the dragon. This human ceremony could not change that, and the fact that they would dare _try_ was insulting.

“Why's that important?” Trevor asked pointedly.

“Because it means there will be a lot of coming and going of entertainers, hired hands, and the like,” Sypha said, tapping her chin with a small frown. “I don't expect they'll let her walk around freely, not with how she must be feeling right now, so we'll have to figure out the way in that doesn't draw attention. And then we have to find _her, _and get her out before we're noticed...”

Alucard closed his eyes briefly, and tried to even out his breath. Tried to recall what Anna had said about the palace, the parts of it she'd missed, in those infrequent conversations about the past.

“...a hedge maze,” he said after a moment.

“Hm?”

“On the grounds. She... she told me once that her favorite place to walk was a hedge maze. It encompassed one corner of the grounds, and butted up against the wall. There may be a door.”

“With all the people coming and going, it may be guarded,” Trevor said cautiously.

“But it may also be the best chance we have of getting her away,” Alucard countered. “Sypha can fog perceptions, and then we can get out into the city.”

“...well, we can try,” Sypha said after a minute, nodding. “Let me go see if I can find the book that has the most useful version of that spell in it.”

Alucard grumbled a little, but with the basics of a plan, he felt a little calmer. As long as Anna held out—and he couldn't imagine his stubborn wife doing anything less—they would be able to get to her.

“....she'll be all right,” Trevor said, clapping him briefly on the shoulder. “She's not the candy-coated princess she was when we all first met her. I doubt they'll be able to force her into anything she doesn't want to do. After all,” and he smirked a little, “she's stood up to dragons. Fellow humans can't be half as scary.”

-

She had made three escape attempts in one day.

Her first attempt had been the simplest thwarted, but she'd had to _try_ picking the lock and getting out into the corridor. It had annoyed, but not surprised her, to see guards stationed on either side of the door. They'd seemed impressed, if apologetic that they were under orders to keep her in her room.

Her second had been hiding behind the door, waiting for someone to push it open and go searching for her in the rooms. The guards had caught her, but it had taken them ten minutes, and they were quietly impressed, even as they apologetically brought her back to the room.

This third attempt had meant waiting until nightfall, until the spring darkness closed around them, then going to the window. She hadn't liked the idea _one bit_, but if she could climb down with a sheet rope...

She had forgotten that it was never _really_ dark on the palace grounds, especially around the royal chambers. She hadn't even made it out the window for that one; there was no point when she could _clearly_ see the ground and the guards patrolling the area.

She hadn't slept in the bed though, oh no. It might have been soft and comfortable, but there was no Alucard to brush the strands of hair out of her face, or wrap her up in the feeling of warmth and safety. No, she took a blanket and curled up on the fainting couch. The divan. The plush armchair by the low fire.

Anywhere but the bed.

It made her wonder if they were trying to see if solitude would break her. It certainly gave her plenty of time to think, to be upset and feel betrayed all over again. Her mother hadn't even _tried_ to deny the kidnapping five years before had been fake, confirming the deepest wound that had never been fully realized.

She wanted Alucard there to hold her while she cried, while she resigned herself to the knowledge that her mother had been the reason she had almost died that particular day; wanted him to stand there while she gave vent to a temper that had been mostly non-existent her whole life, only to bubble up now with the feelings of betrayal.

She had been at the palace three days—it was almost her twentieth birthday, according to the calendar—before she was brought out of her room, and down to the king's study.

The king and queen were there, as well as Janaro. Anna glared at the knight, not bothering to hide her dislike as she approached her parents.

“Have you recovered from your ordeal?” her father asked gruffly when she stood before the great desk.

“That depends on what ordeal you're speaking of,” she said with a pointed sharpness as she glared at Janaro. “Being kidnapped? Absolutely not. Being told I am to marry my kidnapper, _decidedly_ not. Being confined to my room as though I am five and not nineteen? Oh most _certainly _not!”

“Ah, I see your mother has... already informed you-”

“I. Said. No,” and Anna smiled sharply as the king gaped in surprise. She would never have done this before, but she wasn't inclined to waste time on being _polite_ when they were putting the city and everyone in it, at risk. “I will not marry this knight who kidnapped me from an empty tower, fighting no foe, taking on no enemy. Even if he _had_ fought the dragon who lives there, I would not consent to this. _I am married already_.”

“It is not a valid marriage, Marianna,” the queen said sharply. “It's all nonsense that dragon-”

“It's not nonsense!” she snapped. “_I chose him,_ and if you want what's best for the kingdom, you'll let me _return_ to him!”

“Princess, if a dragon dares to enter these ground-”

“You be _silent_,” and she jabbed a finger at Janaro, transferring her glare to him. “This entire mess will be _your_ fault for not heeding me in the first place!”

“And what mess do you anticipate, Marianna?” the king said, leaning forward ominously.

“The kind that will have hundreds of innocents die because _you three_ decided that I do not get to have a say in my own life. And all of this _brought about_ because Mother thought it would be a _game_ to have me 'kidnapped' and then rescued by one of the court! At _fourteen!_”

The resigned exasperation on the king's face didn't do much to improve her mood, but she had to admit, seeing her father scowl at her mother for that particular incident was a little comforting.

“Marianna, you were rescued from a dragon's tower, and you _will_ be marrying this brave knight,” her mother said firmly. “The wedding date is already set for the week after your birthday, and you will resign yourself to this state of affairs or-”

“Or what?” Anna challenged. “You'll confine me again? I'll _find_ a way out, _Mother._ I'm not a doll to be placed on a shelf, and I'm not a child to be cowed with 'tradition' or 'propriety' any longer!”

And she spun before Janaro could step any closer, hands closing around the thick book on the king's desk and launching it straight for his head. He ducked and the silver bracelet dropped to the floor.

“Don't you dare,” she said venomously. “I will not be enchanted into silence, I will not be... _treated_ as though this is something I should be _thrilled_ about! I _will be heard_, damnit all!”

“Marianna! Language!”

“Oh, does how I speak now offend you? So sorry, perhaps if I hadn't been _kidnapped_, I would be more inclined to be polite,” she retorted. “You know, this is _twice_ now you've set me up for kidnapping, mother. If I had a daughter in the future, would you try and do the same for her? Try and convince me that a 'fake kidnapping' will reveal her true love?”

The queen gaped for a moment like a fish, and Anna crossed her arms over her chest.

“I'm going back to my room, and I don't care if you lock me in again. You _cannot_ keep me here forever, and no matter how many guards, no matter how many mages, I _will_ get out.”

-

The capital of Ederia was a city named Elda, and it was a riot of colors and sounds. Alucard could have liked it quite a lot, if they hadn't been celebrating the upcoming marriage of Anna to whatever fool knight had taken her from the tower. As it was, he was exercising a great deal of control to avoid changing to his natural form and burning it all down.

“Just breathe,” Trevor muttered from under his hood. “Anna would get pissed if you killed her people. It's not their fault, they don't know any better.”

He unclenched his fists with effort, and continued to follow Sypha through the crowd. She seemed to have an inkling of how to walk these crowded streets, at least, taking roads that brought them ever closer to the sprawling palace grounds at the city's northmost edge.

“So, how _are_ we getting in, Sypha?” Trevor asked after they had edged past a small band performing in a park.

“We're going to be servants.”

“.....I beg your pardon?” Alucard asked, blinking a little.

“No one pays attention to servants unless they're being ordered around,” Sypha pointed out as she dodged around a food vendor. “As long as they think we're part of the staff, we'll be able to explore the palace and the grounds, and figure out where Anna is, and what routes we can use to get her out. If we can find the door in the hedge maze, that'll be all for the best, but we need backups in case that falls through.”

“....remind me again why I can't just kill the fool who took her from us?” Adrian asked, struggling not to growl.

“Because it won't help the situation, Alucard,” she sighed a little. “We don't want to start a riot, we _just_ want to find Anna and bring her home. Killing people is kind of counter-productive for that, since they'll send other people to come after you again.”

He grumbled a little, but had to admit to the logic of Sypha's argument. It would be more _satisfying_ to kill the idiot, but...

“_How_ are we getting in and out?” Trevor repeated patiently.

“With the rushed advent of the wedding, they'll have hired a number of extra servants to take care of the needs of the guests, catering, and who knows what else,” Sypha replied. “Remember when we got married at home? Think that but like... twenty times fancier and larger.”

Trevor shuddered a little, and Alucard couldn't help but smile, if reluctantly. Their wedding had been a subject of much contention among Sypha's human kin, but Sypha had wanted a human wedding along with the dragon token exchange, and she had dug in her heels to get it. It had been quite amusing to watch.

“So people will be running this way and that. In the confusion, we might get lucky, we might not, but knowing Anna...”

Alucard pulled his hood up a bit more in understanding; the minute she heard of someone matching his description, he had no doubts she would be fighting to find him.

And he would find her. No matter who decided to get in his way.

-

The parlor room was bare and boring, as it always had been in her childhood. Oh, the furniture had been replaced after her furious rampage that first day, set up nice and neat again as though it had never been thrown around, but on a whole the room was_ useless_. She wasn't inclined to entertain anyone at the moment, and she'd been much too young for it five years ago.

But this palace was fairly old, and she could remember tales of passages from one of her nurses. To prevent assassination attempts was what she had been told, though Anna also suspected that they had been used for other affairs. And it _was_ the royal wing, the place most protected and also most targeted in such events.

So by that logic, the stone walls _had_ to conceal a passage _somewhere_.

Muttering irritably under her breath, Anna moved into the small bathing room, pressing stones and pulling on fixtures. She went over every inch she could reach, and followed up by dragging in a stool to help her get to what she couldn't.

She was hampered most obnoxiously by the gown she'd been dressed in for the day; she'd tried to dress herself, tried to eschew the layers that made it hard to even _walk_ at a good pace, but the maidservant had been insistent, and she had not been allowed out of the room until she was properly dressed. Which had been _tempting_, but she wouldn't have been able to yell at her parents.

And of course getting out of the clothes without help was almost as impossible as getting into them. It made her wish for a dagger, honestly...

Anna hissed in frustration as the bathing room turned up nothing, then went across the parlor to the bedroom. She felt around the headboard of the bed, the carved posts that held up the grand canopy, the great feet that looked as though they hadn't been moved since the bed had been put into place. She prodded every carving in the mantle, checked every book on the shelves, and in frustration, punched the side of the wardrobe.

It clicked, and she heard something slide down. Anna blinked, then uncertainly stuck her head into the wardrobe, pushing aside the various frippery that she held no use for; the back had slid to one side, revealing a deep hole.

She stuck her head in, peering tentatively at the dark square. She was going to need a light...

-

“Let yourself be seen, and then head for the hedge maze,” Sypha reminded Alucard. “Rumors ripple quickly among the servants, and we've always said you're much too pretty to be ignored.”

Alucard nodded, absently adjusting the black vest he wore under the encompassing cloak. It had taken them a bit more work to get into the palace, and it hadn't been until Trevor had suggested that Alucard play the part of a noble lordling that they'd actually made it in.

It had helped that Sypha's obfuscation spell had made the guard think he'd seen an invitation that was nothing more than a blank piece of paper.

“You two be careful as well,” he said, feeling age-old caution winning out over the still simmering fury. “Anna won't be happy if you're hurt.”

“I'll go make friends among the heavy lifters,” Trevor said with a small smirk. “Put my 'uncouth manners' to good work.”

“If nothing else, we meet at the maze in two hours,” Sypha said firmly. “We can reorient and figure out what ground we have left to cover.”

Alucard nodded, and moved off, discarding the cloak as he went to reveal the finery beneath. Lightly he smoothed the vest again, remembering with a soft fondness that Anna had made it herself for a midwinter gift. The golden thread she had stitched into a dragonscale pattern caught the sunlight and glimmered gently as he walked the palace grounds.

It took everything he had to not rush around and demand answers. He wanted to pin a fool to a wall and demand the name of the knight who thought he was going to marry Anna, he wanted to demand Anna be brought to him so that he could take her home. He wanted to scare the living daylights out of the king and queen who dared think he would _not_ come for his wife, and he had entertained thoughts of throwing the knight into the stone walls and calling it a day.

He slipped his hands into his trouser pockets to hide the trembling fists as he slowly walked past a group of noblewomen, all of whom went quiet as he passed, then broke out in a flurry of giggles and whispers once they thought him out of hearing range.

Would Anna have grown up as they had, if he'd brought her back five years ago? Simpering and brainless, moderately spineless, willing to be lead about by the hand instead of fighting for what she wanted?

He knew he was being unkind, but it was hard to care when he knew she was there, but still out of reach. Where was Anna, _his_ Anna, in this great stone pile? Would she hear rumors of him, could she get out to find him?

He walked the grounds for an hour, making sure to be seen by as many people as he could stand, then made his way to the hedge maze. The hedges were eight feet high, covered in blooms that filled the air with a subtle, sweet scent, and it didn't take him long to find his way to the fountain at the heart. He had too much restless energy to sit and let the water soothe him, so he stood, and watched, and waited.

-

Anna elected to take a candle, lighting it with a coal from the fire into the dusty, ill-maintained passage. It had smelled of damp and rodents, but damp and rodents were better than a sweet-smelling room that had no exit. Getting the panel to slide back up hadn't been easy—she'd almost lit her hair on fire trying it—but with the wardrobe closed and the panel in place, no one would know where she'd gone.

And considering they'd locked her in the room _alone_, it would take some time for them to figure out that she _was_ gone. If she could make it onto the grounds, there was a good chance she could reach the maze and use that as her escape.

The candle didn't offer much light, but it was better than being in complete darkness. She still kept one hand on her dragonscale necklace as she inched through the passages, trying to take the ones she hoped would lead her to the ground floor and a way out.

The door she finally found was covered in cobwebs and grime, the hinges practically rusted shut, but she had not come all this way to be thwarted by a _door_. She set what was left of the candle onto the floor, braced her shoulder against the wood and shoved as hard as she could.

Little by little the rust flaked away and the door opened with an angry screeching noise. Anna winced and looked around, then sighed a little in relief. Somehow, she'd found a door half-hidden in a hedge near the kitchens. If they heard that over the clatters and bangs of pots and pans, she would be impressed.

She blew out the candle and concealed it in the bush, then started out of the yard at a brisk walk. She had to get to the maze quickly, as it could provide the most discreet exit. Admittedly, walking out the main gate was _very_ tempting, but the obnoxious skirts were not made to allow freedom of movement, and it wouldn't take them long to catch her if she tried.

It was still tempting, though.

Anna hugged herself absently as she walked, then picked up her feet quickly as she heard a couple people murmuring her name. Whether it was gossip, or they'd actually noticed her didn't matter, she just needed to _leave_.

She rounded a corner, then picked up the skirts a bit so that she could sprint for the hedge maze. It wasn't subtle in the slightest, but the maze hadn't changed in her time away, save for being a few feet taller now. She remembered the good hiding places, and the hard to get to ones, and utilized them quickly as several guards filtered in after her.

Wriggling through short cuts, and dodging the more casual maze visitors, she made for the center as quickly as she could. It was the place where it was easiest to be surrounded, yes, but it was also the only spot from which she could find the right path that would take her to the forgotten door, and her way out into the city.

-

Alucard froze, lifting his head at the sound of men in the maze. Men calling for the princess to stop hiding, stop playing, and return to her room.

Anna was in the maze? She was _that_ close to him?

He could hear the humans fumbling about, the occasional swear as they made a wrong turn, startled yelps as they interrupted humans in the midst of trysting or whatever it was that they were doing in the maze. The wind was all wrong for him to be able to catch a hint of her scent, but he breathed deep anyways, wishing he knew this maze, knew its safe spots and hiding places...

Then he heard the footsteps, and spun on his heel.

He would know that tread anywhere.

-

Anna froze as she came to the heart of the maze, hands coming up to cover her mouth as she drew in a sharp, shaking breath.

“....Alucard?”

He held out his hands, and she threw herself across the open space as quickly as the skirts would let her, flinging her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. His arms closed around her, strong and reassuringly familiar, holding her tight.

“Alucard,” she whispered, trying not to cry with relief. “You're _here_...”

“Yes,” he murmured, nuzzling at her temple softly. “Yes, I'm here. So are Sypha and Trevor. We've come to bring you home.”

Home... she wanted to go home, yes, she wanted to go home very _badly_. But now that he was here, a complication she hadn't considered hit her, and she felt her heart ump briefly into her throat.

“B-but... _how_?” and her voice caught. “They know where the tower is now!”

“We can move the tower,” he said, stroking her hair. “We'll go far, love, so far they'll never think to find us again.”

Anna closed her eyes and pressed against him tightly. Breathed in the subtle scent of him, and felt tension easing in her spine as his own arms tightened fractionally before easing so that she could breathe properly.

“Don't leave me,” she whispered.

“I won't. We came for you, we're not leaving without you.”

She eased her grip on him a little, until she was standing flat again, then curled her arms around his waist, curling her fingers in his vest. No, they wouldn't leave without her, and she was not going to ask that they try. There had to be a way to solve this, to _end_ the nonsense, that would allow them all to leave safely.

“....where are Sypha and Trevor?”

“Trying to find you,” and she could hear the smile in his voice. “We didn't think you'd stay put very long, but I have to admit, I didn't expect you'd come running right for me.”

She smiled weakly, then leaned back a little to get a better look at his face. Her lover, her beloved, her husband, her protector.... he bent a little, to press his forehead against hers, nuzzling at her softly.

“I've got you,” he murmured, golden eyes meeting hers squarely. “I've got you my Anna, and I'm not letting you go unless you want me too.”

“Never,” she said fiercely. “Never never never.”

“Unhand the princess,” came the sharp, crisp command from behind her.

Alucard lifted his head slightly, and she felt him go stiff in her hold; it was unsurprising, really, she'd gone still herself. Alucard's arms around her tightened fractionally, and she didn't have to look up at him to know he was glaring.

“No,” he said shortly. “I will not.”

Anna shifted slightly, moving a little to the side so that she could still be encircled by Alucard's arms while also being able to turn a sour look on Sir Janaro. The knight had one hand on the hilt of his sword, and looked quite ready to draw.

“No?” Janaro repeated, cold anger in his face.

“No,” Alucard replied. “If _she_ requests it of me, I will, but you? No. You have no right to order either of us about.”

“No-” Janaro took a step forward. “The princess is my _betrothed_, I have every right!”

“And I've told you, _and_ my parents that I'm already married,” Anna shot back, sliding one hand up to rest softly against Alucard's chest. He was so tense, but at that touch he shifted his weight slightly back, less ready to throw himself at the knight. “It's your own fault for not believing that I would choose someone who would come for me, who would _know_ that I would never choose anyone else. I will not leave him and _you cannot make me_.”

“Princess Marianna-”

“You heard her,” Alucard said with a small, biting smirk that she didn't have to look at to see. “She chooses me, human. I would suggest leaving before things get drastic.”

“..._you_ are no dragon,” Janaro said with a scowl. “_You_ are an interloper who has his hands on the princess, and needs to _leave_.”

Alucard's growl was low and deadly, and he shifted his weight again. Anna tapped him on the chest, and when he looked down at her, she shook her head slightly.

“Challenge him,” she murmured.

Golden eyes blinked down at her, losing a measure of heat as confusion filtered in. Anna licked her lips nervously, then nodded slightly.

It was a risk, admittedly; she had no idea if Alucard knew how to handle a sword. And the idea of him getting hurt in her defense.... But there was little choice; if they didn't 'defeat' Janaro, he would just keep coming back. Again and again and again, he had that sort of air about him that said he would persist until he was dead.

...granted, going by the looks he was giving both of them, she was fairly sure he wasn't going to accept any defeat, but at least this way they would have covered the obnoxious base her mother would insist upon.

“If you make a formal challenge for my hand, he can't refuse,” she said softly, hurriedly. “It's not ideal, but it lets you stay on palace grounds until the challenge is met, and if he refuses, losing face is the _least_ of his troubles. It may even satisfy the nonsense ideas of my mother...”

“I'm saying this once more; release the princess, and step away,” Janaro said, drawing his sword. “If you do not-”

“It's unwise to make threats you cannot back, human,” Alucard said softly. “Will you put Anna at risk, to get at me? How far do you think you'll make it if you _try_?”

“Princess, step away-”

“I will not,” Anna said shortly. “I will stay with my husband.”

“He is not-”

“I am, and if this is what it takes for you humans to understand it, then I issue a challenge to you,” Alucard said sharply. “For Anna's hand in the human way of things.”

Janaro stared at them. From behind him in the hedge, so did Trevor and Sypha, and several of the guards that had been seeking Anna, for neither man had bothered with keeping his voice down. Anna let out a small breath, both relieved and unhappy; she'd been worried that he wouldn't challenge, he'd just take her and go.

Admittedly, that would have been welcome; she _wanted_ to leave, to go back home to the tower and the forest. But there would be no escape, no peace in that. While she believed him when he said they could move the tower, she didn't _want_ to move the tower if it could be avoided. She liked the forest, _knew_ the forest, and wanted her children to know the forest as well.

“The challenge is made,” Anna said, doing her best to feign calm as she leaned against Alucard. “What say you, Sir Janaro? Will you meet it?”

“He is no prince, no lord, no knight,” Janaro spat. “He has no means or rights to challenge _me_.”

“He is a _dragon_,” Anna shot back. “More than that, he is my rightful husband whether or not _any_ of you care to acknowledge it. He has _every_ right to challenge for what he protects. Moreover, he, and they,” and she nodded to Trevor and Sypha who quickly came forward to flank Anna and Alucard, “stay with me. I ask again, _will you meet the challenge?_”

“See, this is why I like being on her good side,” she heard Trevor murmur to Sypha.

“Only because you've been on her bad side and deserved it,” the mage replied.

Anna could hear the smile in her friend's voice, and took comfort in their banter. Took courage from the strong arms still wrapped around her. No matter what happened, these were the people she would be leaving with, the family she had found and then chosen.

“....I will meet the challenge,” Janaro said after a thick, tense silence. “And you, sir, shall meet your demise.”

-

Alucard sat before the fire in a chair slightly too small and scowled at the flames, not really seeing them. Human rules, human _complications_, had him separated from his Anna once more, despite her insistence that they remain together.

“D'you think they know that she's not going to stay, even if Janaro manages to injure you?” Trevor asked idly from where he lounged on the bed.

“....your faith in my ability to beat a stripling knight into the ground is _inspiring_,” Alucard said dryly.

“Oh, I fully expect you to kick his arse,” Trevor said, waving a hand lightly. “In as dramatic and painful a way as possible. I'm just saying, if you get hurt, I get to rescue _you_ for a change.”

He snorted a little, and wished he'd just gone with his first instinct; to grab Anna up the minute she'd come running into his arms and send them both off, soaring through the sky. He _understood_ what she was trying to do, playing by their rules in an effort to end the nonsense, but it was all so needlessly complicated...

“Hey, at least they let Sypha go with Anna when they wouldn't let you,” Trevor pointed out after a moment. “Probably thought that she wouldn't stay put without _one_ of us, at least.”

“...not the same,” Alucard grumbled.

He'd been looking forward to holding Anna through the night, hearing her breath soften and deepen as she drifted into sleep, feeling her relax.... and being able to relax himself. To know that she was safe, that she was where he could see her, touch her, kiss her...

“We can be miserable together?” Trevor offered.

Alucard grumbled indistinctly at him then sat up abruptly in the chair. Trevor lifted his head after a moment with a frown, looking towards the wall.

“Is that...?”

He squawked slightly as the bed slid sideways abruptly, and two heads popped through the gap. Sypha grinned a little.

“So, secret passages are a thing that Anna found,” she said cheerfully, stepping out into the room. “Since it didn't seem like either one of us was going to be sleeping, we decided to explore.”

Alucard shot to his feet as Anna darted across the room, once more throwing herself into his arms. She smelled of dust and mold, damp and rodents, but he didn't care. She was here, he was holding her, and while everything was not _perfect_, it was certainly more manageable.

“Was wondering how long it would take before she made another grand escape,” Trevor said with a smirk, getting to his feet and pushing the bed back into place.

Anna responded by turning and sticking her tongue out at him, to which he only snickered.

“So, in the interest of transparency, and worst case scenarios, what happens if we lose?” Sypha asked, flopping down onto the bed next to Trevor and snuggling up.

“We leave,” Anna said firmly. “No matter what happens, _we leave_.”

“I'm all for that,” Trevor said with a smirk, wrapping his arms snugly around his mate.

“Me too,” Alucard said, sitting down in the chair again and tugging Anna down with him. “But I don't expect to lose.”

“How long's it been since you held a sword again?” Trevor asked pointedly.

“I remember how to fight,” Alucard retorted as Anna curled up on his lap, tucking her head against his shoulder. “I can still put _you_ in the dirt; I think I'll be just fine against a _human_ knight.”

Trevor made a face at him, then sighed a little.

“So, win or lose, we leave?” he asked.

“....I'd prefer it if you two didn't go dragon in the middle of the castle and scare everyone,” Anna said a bit dryly, “but that is the main gist of the idea, yes.”

“Ruin my fun,” Trevor teased.

“I try~”

Sypha snickered a little and Alucard kissed the top of Anna's head fondly.

“Will Janaro play by the rules?” he asked as Anna smothered a yawn.

“Don't know. With an audience? Possibly. But I wouldn't put it past him to try some dirty trick to win,” Anna said after a moment. “And if not him, my mother. So be careful.”

He nuzzled at her gently, fondly, then feathered little kisses on her face. He could hear so much hurt in her voice, feel it in the tension of her body, but they were not in a place where he could address those things safely. So he kept his touch soft, offering the comfort that she needed.

“When I win, is there anything I should expect?”

Anna pondered this for a moment.

“I don't know,” she said slowly. “I'd expect the wedding to be held almost directly after, I admit, but I'm not sure they'll go through with it when you beat Janaro.”

“I could accept standing through a human wedding, if it will get your parents to stop,” he said after a thoughtful moment.

“Didn't you say you wanted nothing to do with human ceremonies after witnessing the mess of theirs?” and she nodded at Trevor and Sypha, both of whom snickered in memory.

“I don't. But. If it makes them _stop_....”

Anna smiled a little up at him, and he nuzzled her gently. If it was for her, he could do quite a bit, actually, but she had never pressed for the human ceremony. _Had_ she wanted it all this time, and never said? It was still sometimes so difficult to get her to admit to her own desires...

“To be fair, if they do that, it'll probably be fairly bare bones,” she said after a moment, nestling a little more against him. “The ceremony itself wasn't supposed to be for another week, not the day of my birthday.”

From the bed, Sypha and Trevor both snorted.

“Did they really expect you'd stay that long?” Sypha asked.

“Mmm... probably. You know I was a lot more.... polite and diffident.”

“And then we happened,” Trevor said with a grin.

“Yes,” and Anna smiled fondly at them. “Then you lot happened. But they're still refusing to see that I've.. grown up, I've _changed_, and I can't be that polite, diffident little princess any more. Nor do I want to be her. _She_ would never have had the gumption to marry a dragon.”

Alucard kissed the top of her head and cuddled her gently.

“You did, though,” and he nuzzled her temple fondly. “And you may not be as diffident, but you are polite when you feel its warranted. Which, in this situation, it is not.”

That made her giggle a little, if weakly; the amusement was followed by a small yawn, and he curled his arms around her a little more.

“You should be in the bed,” he said after a moment.

“Only if you're in it too.”

“As if I could be anywhere else.”

She smiled at him, then squeaked as he stood, bringing her with in a comforting cradle. The bed was more than big enough for all of them without having to move around too much, so he simply climbed onto it, snuggling her down against his chest.

“How much of an alarm do you think is going to be raised in the morning when they find you're not in your room again?” Trevor asked as Anna yawned and tucked her head under Alucard's chin.

“Don't know. Don't care,” Anna replied drowsily. “I told them they couldn't keep me away from you lot, and I meant it. It's not _my_ fault the secret passages have been forgotten.”

Alucard chuckled softly, and nuzzled at her fondly. The setting was unfamiliar, but the banter, the loving, gentle mockery, was soothing. With Anna in his arms, he could relax, he could _rest,_ and let tomorrow worry about itself.

“We'll deal with that in the morning,” he said firmly. “For now, I think sleep would not go amiss.”

Anna yawned again and snuggled down against his chest; it didn't take long for her breathing to even out and deepen, slowing as she drifted into slumber.

“What do we do if it's not _just_ Janaro who's going to cheat?” Sypha asked in the soft darkness.

“I leave that up to you,” Alucard said softly. “But I think, if something like that does occur, Anna's wrath will be something they cannot handle.”

-

The mist had burned off by the time the courtyard was set up for the duel. For the most part, it was being treated lightly, as a novelty by the gathered noble guests. Some fool had challenged a knight for the princess, how droll. It was certainly something to break up the tedium of waiting, if nothing else.

It was a much calmer contrast to the morning argument Anna had more or less been required to have with her mother for 'sneaking out of her room to sleep with the interloper'. Never mind that she'd tried explaining three times that Alucard was no interloper, he was her husband, and therefore she was allowed to sleep with him... They still refused to believe it, refuted it as some sort of dragon spell.

Alucard's own caustic comment about the pointlessness of such things had been scathing enough to make the queen fall silent for a good two minutes. It had been a nice respite in the disagreement, even if it hadn't really gotten them any further in the discussion.

She stifled a yawn, and leaned absently against Sypha, who leaned back comfortably. It had certainly been the best sleep she'd had in a week, which probably explained why she was still tired, despite having been awake for several hours. She was going to be needing a lot of naps after they made it back home.

“....why did I think this was a good idea again?” she mumbled as Trevor came to stand behind them.

“Dunno,” he said cheerfully. “Vindictiveness, maybe? The pleasure of watching Alucard shove your kidnapper in the dirt? The delight of pointing out to your _really weird parents_ that now he's done the human thing, so they can leave you alone?”

Sypha hugged her, trying not to giggle.

“Have to admit, you do sometimes have a temper,” she said with a grin.

Anna shuffled a bit sheepishly.

“...don't _mean_ to...”

“I'm pretty sure Alucard wouldn't have done it if he didn't want to punt this idiot,” Trevor said with a small snicker. “He'd have just 'kidnapped' you back, and we'd already be trying to figure out how to move the tower. Though... why _did_ you ask him to do this?”

“I just... It's... you're sort of right,” she said after an uncertain moment, flushing a little. “Not... well, okay, maybe a little bit of vindictiveness... But I guess mostly because it seems like it's the only way they'll _understand_. I'm not the person that got kidnapped five ears ago, and I won't go back to being her. And I don't know if they'll see it, but... But at least this way, they won't really have a leg to stand on in protest.”

“...somehow, I think your parents might continue protesting anyways,” Sypha said gently.

Anna sighed a little, her eyes on the small tent in which Alucard had been basically isolated for the past few hours. She wanted to go to him, see him and make sure no one had tried anything... True, they'd been watching since before it was set up, but she _worried_.

“I know. But... I want to try. Maybe they were always like this and I just didn't know it, but I... I want to try.”

Trevor ruffled her hair gently, then wrapped his arms around them both.

“Well, it'll be fun to watch him try to _not_ kill the knight,” he said after a moment. “That's part of the rules, right? Can't kill your opponent?”

Anna hesitated.

“Sometimes,” she said uneasily. “Sir Janaro didn't really name the rules when he was challenged, as was his right. Because he didn't, I was able to push for nonlethal combat. It's not to first blood, I know Alucard wouldn't be.... There's too much chance for that to go wrong. So I said until someone is unconscious, or yields, whichever comes first. Since at this point both of them are quite ready to pummel each other, I didn't get any arguments.”

“...oh that'll be _loads_ of fun,” Trevor snickered. “Even when we're human, our bones are way denser than yours. If he tries to punch Alucard in the head, that's just going to break his hand.”

“I can _almost_ feel sorry for him,” Sypha said. “But only almost. This _is_ all his fault, after all.”

“I don't, not one bit,” Trevor snorted a little, hugging them both briefly. “And I can't _wait_ to see Alucard plant his arse.”

-

The problem with waiting in solitude was that it gave one a lot of time to think. Alucard had only had a few hours of contact with his wife; after days spent apart, a few hours and part of a decent night's sleep was definitely not enough. He did not want to be sitting in this tent, listening to humans gather and treat this as though it was some sort of _entertainment_ for them; he wanted to be with Anna, Sypha, and Trevor, getting ready to _leave_ this place.

He looked sidelong at the sword that had been included with the tent and snorted a little. It was a flimsy thing, clearly meant to break within the first few strokes... As if that would stop him from dropping Janaro without qualms.

His heirloom sword would have been much sturdier, much more applicable to this sort of a fight, admittedly, but getting it would have meant traveling back to the tower, and he wasn't inclined towards doing _that_. Turning it into a brawl was more Trevor's thing than his, though if the sword really did break with use, that was probably where it was going to go.

He could not allow himself to lose, after all. Not just because Janaro likely wouldn't hesitate to try and kill him no matter _what_ the rules said, but because he'd absolutely _never_ hear the end of it from Trevor.

Dimly he heard Anna's voice and felt his heart lift slightly. He wasn't close enough to hear what she was saying, but just going by cadence, she was safe with Trevor and Sypha. Lightly he touched the necklace at his throat; she had happily trimmed out a lock of hair for the bottle charm again, and even if it didn't add weight, there was a difference that he could feel.

Tired of being in the tent, he grabbed the sword by the scabbard and stepped out into the midday sunlight, shading his eyes briefly and looking around the courtyard. Not just humans in fine clothing had gathered, there seemed to be other soldiers and knights as well, discernible only by the surcoats the soldiers wore to declare their military ranks. Across the makeshift fighting square was another tent of gray and blue; Janaro's tent, he assumed, and turned away from it dismissively, scanning the crowd.

When he saw her, he smiled; Anna was tucked up against Sypha and Trevor, the safest spot for her when not with him. It was going to be harder to avoid hovering after this, but... well, perhaps she would welcome it. And even if she didn't, he suspected she would tolerate it as long as possible before getting snarly at him.

The humans murmured as he strode to the fence, reaching over to gently touch Anna's face.

“Am I breaking etiquette?” he asked with a small smile.

“I don't know,” she said, nuzzling into his palm. “Probably. I've never witnessed a duel, only read about them. I was too young to have men fighting over me before, and they always sounded.... unpleasant.”

“There is still time to just leave,” Trevor said idly.

“And let Janaro think he's won?” Alucard glared at his cousin half-heartedly, unwilling to admit that the idea had certainly crossed his mind more than once. “Or worse, let these _humans_ think that _we're_ the ones doing the kidnapping?”

Trevor made a face at him and sighed.

“Just a suggestion...”

“How much longer until it begins?” Sypha asked.

“Not much,” Anna replied after a minute, squinting briefly up at the sky. “Janaro's still in his tent, having lunch, I think. Did you eat?”

“Some. Parts of it were unsuitable.”

Anna closed her eyes briefly, unhappy resignation flashing over her face.

“I should have known...” she murmured.

“The actions of your parents are not your fault,” Alucard said firmly, gently tapping her chin to make her look up at him. “I suspected that something like that would be attempted, considering the way they seem to favor Janaro over me.”

“Which is a bit silly, because I think half the ladies and some of the gentlemen here are staring at you,” Sypha said with a quick glance around. “And not just because you look different.”

Alucard refused to look for himself, instead leaning in and stealing a quick kiss from Anna, who blushed and ducked her head a little. She wasn't able to hide the smile that eased the lines of stress on her face, which had been the entire goal.

“A quick fight, or a lesson, my love?” he asked.

“....quick. I just... I want to go _home_.”

He nodded, and his thumb brushed gently against her cheek.

“We'll go home soon,” he promised.

He glanced briefly at Trevor who nodded slightly; jokes aside, if things truly did take a turn for the worst, he knew Trevor would be able to get all of them out. He might never live it down, but better to be mocked than dead.

A throat cleared behind him, and he looked over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow. A pageboy stood there, looking somewhat flustered.

“You.... y-you need to go back to your tent, sir,” the boy squeaked a little. “Their majesties said so.”

Alucard turned back to Anna, giving her an inquisitive look. She rolled her eyes slightly, then reached out to him. Nothing loathe, he stepped closer and kissed her softly, lingeringly, only backing away when she did.

“You'll win,” she said softly, firmly. “I know you will.”

“Of course I will,” and he smiled at her, then quickly kissed the tip of her nose. “You're my prize~”

She giggled a little, and waved a hand gently at him.

“Incorrigible. Go on, love, go beat Janaro so that we can go home.”

Alucard nodded, and saluted her lightly.

He was _definitely_ going to win.

-

“Where _are_ their majesties anyways?” Sypha asked as Alucard walked towards his small tent.

“Up there, probably,” Anna said gesturing slightly to a protruding balcony that overlooked the entire courtyard. “It hasn't been used for a long time, but I was told it gives the best view of the courtyard.”

She refused to look up, knowing that if she did, she'd likely make a very rude gesture at her parents. Alucard was being surprisingly patient with this, all things considered, and she had wanted to keep talking with him until it was actually time for the duel to begin. It wasn't like Janaro hadn't been in and out of _his_ tent, talking with people on the other side of the field. His body language when he spoke to them made her uneasy, enough so that she wished she _could _give some sort of help to her husband.

“I have to practice shields more,” she muttered, uneasily reaching up and a little back to rest her hand on Trevor's. “I don't... Something feels _wrong_...”

He squeezed her shoulder gently, and Sypha's arm around her tightened a little.

“We're ready to make a quick exit if something goes wrong,” he promised. “I can carry three people just as easy as one, all things considered.”

“...that's not entirely comforting, but thank you for the contingency?”

He chuckled a little, and squeezed her shoulder again.

“We got this, and we got you,” he said comfortably. “And if we have to, we can take the tower apart and leave nothing behind. It'll suck, but we can do it. Right, Sy?”

“Absolutely,” the mage agreed with a firm nod. “I know the spells that were used, I could probably set them all up within a few days to a couple weeks if we end up needing to find a new place to live.”

It was touching, and Anna half-smiled.

“You both just want an excuse to leave,” she teased gently.

Sypha snorted in amusement and hugged her fondly.

“You have to admit, it's probably the only option, even after Alucard wins,” she said gently. “Unless you really think your parents will honor this?”

Anna sighed a little, smile fading.

“I don't know... I really don't. I want them to, I'd really like it if they could.” She thought for a moment, then winced as a herald blew their trumpet. The duel would start soon, then. Good. “I think Father will. I'm not sure he really approved of what Mother did, though he went along with it. I suppose I should be grateful I don't have any sisters for her to... repeat that with.”

“So really, the one we have to worry about the most is your mother, then?” Sypha asked.

“...probably. I don't...” And slumped a little morosely. “She didn't even _apologize_... I could have _died!_”

“...not to interrupt what is probably a much needed vent, but, uh...” Trevor nodded a little towards the tents. “Best to focus now. Don't want to distract Alucard any, yeah?”

Anna closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath. He was right; she could be hurt and upset about this later, when it was safer and Alucard was able to hold her while she cried about it. If she started now...

“When all of this is over, I want a hot soak, and at least two days in bed,” she grumbled. “_My_ bed, with _my_ husband.”

“I'm quite sure he'll be happy to join you there,” Trevor said blandly. Then winced as Sypha dug her elbow into his side. “Ow, hey! I didn't mean anything by it!”

“Suuuure you didn't,” Sypha said dryly.

Anna chuckled a little as Trevor sighed theatrically, then turned her head a little as someone cleared their throat near her.

“Begging your pardon, highness, but their majesties are wishful that you join them up on the balcony for the better view,” a guardsman said diffidently.

“Anna's not going-” Trevor began, then paused when Anna held up a hand slightly.

“If you would kindly inform their majesties that I still have no head for heights, and thusly will be remaining down here, I would be much obliged,” she said politely. “No point in making myself ill if I don't have to.”

The guardsman hesitated, then nodded.

“Very good, highness. I'll see that their majesties are informed at once.”

“Thank you very much, I do appreciate it.”

The guard took himself off, and Trevor made a faintly baffled noise.

“I don't see any reason to get guards or servants caught up in the family squabble,” she replied, smoothing her skirt absently as Alucard and Janaro finally emerged from their tents and made for the center of the courtyard. “And it never hurts to be polite to them. You can make a lot of allies by simply being kind, I've noticed, and with the way some other nobles treat their servants, the nicer I can be, the better.” She was quiet for a moment, then sighed slightly. “And I didn't really... _realize_ how much work was done by servants until I had to learn how to fend for myself, so... maybe it's what little penance I can offer for being a princess.”

“You really wanted to have him say some rude things though, didn't you?” Sypha asked with a knowing smile.

Anna sighed ruefully, and half-smiled back.

“I did. He would have reworded it anyways, but I really did.”

The trumpet sounded again, and a herald stepped into the courtyard. The murmuring voices of the crowd swelled briefly, then faded as he raised his hands for silence.

“This duel is a challenge for the honor and hand of the Princess Marianna,” he announced. “The fight will go until one man yields, is unconscious, or otherwise incapable of fighting. In the event of a death, the one who did the killing forfeits the duel.”

It had been a hard fight to get that clause in; it wouldn't do much for the one who died, but it was the only way Anna could both ensure that killing Alucard would be pointless, and ensure that Alucard would not give into the cold side of his own temper and kill Janaro out of hand.

“The honor and hand?” Trevor asked.

Anna shrugged lightly.

“Don't ask me, I didn't write the speech he was to make,” she replied quietly. “I wouldn't have used phrasing that flowery.”

Sypha snickered, and leaned against her fondly.

“A quick fight,” she murmured. “I don't think I've ever seen Alucard fight anyone _quickly_.”

“...that's because he's usually fighting me, and we're fairly equal in terms of size, strength, and skill,” Trevor replied with a small huff. “Not like I'm going to _let_ him win, you know.”

Janaro stepped out of his tent, meticulously adjusting his tunic; since Alucard had refused armor, he had not been allowed any of his own, something that made Anna feel a trifle smug, even as she worried about it. No armor meant that they both could be faster on their feet... and more vulnerable to each other's blows.

The crowd murmured in approval, and Janaro raised his hand lightly, offering nods to the gathered people. He bowed to the balcony where the king and queen sat, then turned and bowed to Anna.

Anna ignored him, and watched as Alucard emerged from his tent; he'd taken off the vest she'd embroidered for him so many years ago, and that made her smile a little; he didn't want it to get stabbed, or ruined, she suspected, even if it meant forgoing one more thin piece of armor. His emergence was greeted more with whispers and murmured, which took on a tone of disapproval as he only briefly looked towards their majesties, and then turned to look at her.

For him she offered a soft smile and gentle nod. It was going to be hard to stand there and watch him fight, knowing that he was going to be hurt, but she had absolute unswavering faith that he would win.

For he was _her_ dragon, her lover, her husband, and she would not let herself believe anything else.

-

They met in the middle of the courtyard, a swordlength apart. Janaro's smile was thin; Alucard didn't bother to smile at all, instead meeting the cold blue eyes of the knight squarely.

“You'll regret this,” Janaro said quietly.

“The only thing I will regret is that I must leave you alive,” Alucard replied coldly.

“You will not withdraw then?”

“No. And you will be in pain before the hour is done.”

“Gentlemen, draw,” the herald said firmly.

Janaro drew his sword smoothly, bringing it up into the guard position. Alucard mimicked him to a point, but where Janaro cast the sheath aside, he kept his in hand. If the sword broke as he was expecting, the sheath would make a good secondary weapon.

And it would be rather poetic to use the sheath for Janaro's sword to pummel the knight upside the head.

“Begin!”

-

The speed at which Alucard moved left the crowd stunned into silence, and even though she'd asked for it to be a quick fight, not a lesson, Anna was fairly sure there _was_ a lesson being taught.

Why _else_ would Alucard have chosen to hit Janaro three times with the scabbard instead of the actual sword? Or at least, three times that she'd been able to notice.

Behind her, Anna heard Trevor snickering, even as Janaro folded slowly in half, digging the point of his sword into the stone.

“...do I want to know?” she asked.

“Anatomy is anatomy,” Trevor replied blandly.

Sypha choked, and Anna covered her mouth to stifle her giggles. It was certainly petty of her to take pleasure in Janaro's pain, but she couldn't quite make herself feel bad for him.

A disapproving murmur rose in the crowd, even as Alucard turned to face Janaro again, raising the sheath in a mocking salute. This time when he came at the knight it was with the sword, and he did it almost deliberately slow. Janaro blocked, but was unable to do much more than that until with a sharp crack of metal, Alucard's sword snapped near the hilt.

Anna clutched at the hands of her friends as Janaro took that moment and lunged; the cloth of Alucard's shirt tore, and a thin line of red began seeping into the white linen. Alucard lifted his arm slightly, raised an eyebrow at Janaro, and said something that Anna couldn't make out of the sudden delighted roar of the crowd.

“He said Janaro missed,” Trevor murmured. “I think he _let_ him have that hit. Doesn't look too deep.”

It didn't reassure Anna that much, but the duel wasn't over; Alucard flipped hilt and sheath into opposite hands and went at Janaro with a vengeance. They could _hear_ the blows, and see Janaro's reactions to them as he folded one way or the other, but Alucard was a blur of blond, white, and black. He wasn't even breathing hard when he flashed to a halt, one hand holding Janaro up by the collar of his tunic as he spoke too low for the crowd to hear.

Trevor whistled softly, but when Anna turned to look up at him, he smiled apologetically.

“No way am I repeating what he's saying,” he said. “Let's just say that he is _angry_.”

After a moment he dropped Janaro, who crumpled to the ground, dropped the remnants of the sword he'd held in his other hand, then turned and headed straight for her.

The silence of the crowd was deafening, as healers and the herald darted out to check on Janaro. It was certainly quiet enough to hear the soft sizzle of Alucard's blood hitting the stone.

“....is that normal?” Anna asked, swallowing hard.

“Yeah. Dragons run hotter than humans. It's just the temperature difference,” Trevor said, though she got the impression that he was being a shade _too_ casual.

Alucard stopped at the fence, and his golden eyes were glazed as though with fatigue. Anna hesitated, then reached through the fence and touched his arm, coaxing out the warmth of the healing magic she understood.

Other than the cut, he wasn't hurt, so she didn't _entirely_ understand the look in his eyes. Once he was healed, he shuddered a little, blinked a couple of times, then half-smiled, looking abruptly more like himself.

“Do you think that did it?” he asked a little dryly. “I may have gone a little overboard, but he's a knight, he should be able to handle a reasonable amount of damage.”

“Was he even _awake_ when you threatened him?” Trevor asked dryly as the knight was loaded onto a stretcher.

“Mostly,” and Alucard shrugged a little, then turned to face the balcony, raising his voice. “I've done your human ritual as Anna requested. We are going _home_ now.”

Lightly he leaped the fence, making those who had crowded close yelp and jump back as Alucard tucked himself up against Anna's side.

“How many times _did_ you hit him?” she asked.

“Not _nearly_ enough to account for the distress he cause,” Alucard muttered, nuzzling at her gently. “He'll be months in recovery, even with a healer's studious attentions. Perhaps by then he'll have grown enough of a brain to decide not to try this again.”

“We could always set up some real traps in the forest,” Sypha said. “Triggered by a general feeling of ill will. That could get people to avoid it even more~”

“That could work...”

“Excuse me, pardon, ah... please!”

Anna half-turned as a runner panted to a halt.

“Yes?” she asked gently.

“Their majesties are wishful that you meet them in his majesty's study before anything else,” the runner said, straightening immediately.

Anna was quiet for a moment. Then she looked at Alucard, who shrugged lightly. Looked at Trevor who made a faintly annoyed sound, then Sypha who only shook her head.

Then she looked back at the runner and smiled.

“No. I'm going home. Alucard, is this enough room?”

He looked about them for a moment, then snorted a little.

“It would be better to be in the ring; fewer humans to squish if they don't move in time.”

She made an exasperated sound as Trevor snickered.

“I wanted to leave on horseback, or in a carriage, not... _dramatically_,” she grumbled a little. “But I suppose we'll have to.”

He kissed her temple, then picked her up gently, easily hopping back over the fence. Trevor and Sypha followed suit, and the three of them stayed at the edge while Alucard strode to the now-empty center. The crowd that had begun to disperse stilled, then began crowding back rather _quickly_ as Alucard shed his human form, trading it for the iridescently black dragon.

When he was properly sized, he shook himself briefly, then settled on his elbows so that they could climb on.

“Could fly myself,” Trevor said dryly.

“Then you can get off when we're in the air,” Alucard replied, dry annoyance tinging his voice. “There's not room for both of us to change.”

Trevor only grinned, even when Sypha dug her elbow into his ribs. Anna shook her head a little and slipped under one of Alucard's large arms.

“The skirt makes it difficult to climb,” she said pointedly when he curved his head to look at her. “And you know I don't like heights anyways. I'll feel better if you've got a grip on me.”

He lowered his head and she ran her hands along his jaw, resting her head against the warm scales.

“I won't let you fall,” he promised.

“I know you won't.”

“Okay, we're on,” Trevor called. “Let's get out of here before those guards do more than just stare, yeah?”

Alucard scooped Anna up with care, tucking her close to his chest as he stood on his back legs and fanned his wings lightly. Then with a mighty leap and a hard downsweep of his wings they were off the ground. Anna closed her eyes and clung to him as best she could.

Finally.

_Finally_.

She was going home.

-

Alucard paced.

Worried.

Fretted.

He'd been told that the first labor was arguably the hardest for a new mother, but that didn't do much to make him feel better. He barely felt good about being in Sypha's village for this as it was, as the village wasn't half as protected as the tower from interference from Ederian soldiers.

But Sypha hadn't been comfortable with the idea of being the only person there to help make things easier in case of problems, and Anna had agreed that it was probably a good idea to have more than just _one_ person who knew—roughly—how to help with the birthing process.

He hadn't exactly enjoyed being kicked out, but he understood that he'd been making it more difficult by snarling at everyone in hopes that someone could ease the birthing pains. And Trevor had been taken off to do work elsewhere, giving him no one to vent his feeling _on_, which only made him feel more impatient to be allowed back in.

If Sypha hadn't been one of the women in attendance, he would have already shoved his way in, but he suspected that she—five months along and beginning to show her own pregnancy—would snarl him right back out.

If he'd learned nothing else in the past months, it was that pregnant women could be alarming when they set their minds to it.

It was the thin, wailing cry that finally had him pushing the door open, uncaring of whether the women wanted him there or not. He was just in time to watch them cut the birthing cord before Sypha took the baby over to a small basin of warm water to wash off the detritus of birthing.

“One down, now, lets get that other one out t-Hey!” the midwife glared at him. “You go back out this minu-”

“'luc'rd?”

Alucard brushed past the midwife and healer, taking the stool at Anna's side, and catching up her hand.

“I'm here,” he said, smoothing straggles of hair out of her face. “Sypha has the child.”

“The _first_ child,” the midwife corrected testily. “Still another babe in there.”

“Oh good,” and Anna's tone suggested that she wasn't actually listening. “'most... d'ne then...”

He nuzzled at her softly as she gasped and gripped his hand tightly.

“That's right, push now!”

“Breathe,” he murmured, running his fingers along her face. “Just breathe, Anna.”

-

It took almost another hour before everything was finished and cleaned up; the midwife seemed annoyed at Alucard, but Anna was glad he'd returned; it had been nerve-wracking and painful, even with Sypha there fore reassurance.

Two little girls, small and perfect; one had already finished nursing, and Alucard was standing near the window rocking her while Anna cuddled the other to her chest. Admittedly she hadn't been paying enough attention to see who might have fangs, if either one of them...

“....'member the discussion we had 'bout names?” she murmured blearily, more than half asleep even with the child on her chest.

Alucard made a small sound of acknowledgment, and she glanced over to see that he was looking at her with a warmth and softness that soothed her heart.

“Could name one f'r your.... m'ther,” and she yawned a little, lightly running her fingers over the tiny wisps of hair on the baby's head.

“Let's decide later,” he suggested gently. “You're exhausted and need to rest.”

It made her smile, and she lifted a hand slightly.. Obligingly he sat on the edge of the bed, ever so gently tucking up against her.

“Stay?”

“Until the day you don't want me any more,” he murmured, leaning in to brush a kiss to her forehead. “Rest, my love. We will all be here in the morning.”

-

The crash made Anna wince, and she sighed a little as Sypha stifled a groan.

“Which one, you think?” the mage asked tiredly. “Simon, Lisa, or Rosa?”

“I think that we should maybe throw things at Alucard and Trevor for taking off so abruptly,” Anna muttered as she set the weeding claw aside and got to her feet. “Half-dragons certainly grow fast, but they don't _mature_ fast...”

Sypha grinned wryly in agreement, getting up herself and dusting the dirt from her hands; Simon, despite being months younger than the twins, was already taller than them, and prone to getting into more mischief than any toddler had a right to.

“Let's go see what our sturdy monsters have knocked over this time, hm?”

Anna nodded in agreement, and headed towards the tower; the three toddlers had theoretically been napping in the main entry room in their playpens, with nothing to knock over _but_ the playpens.

“Remind me to get the tower to put a half-door on the kitchen,” she said as she peered into the dim interior. Sure enough, one of the playpens was on its side, and Simon was heading for the other pen with his sleeping sisters. “Because I think that's what he wants is kitchen treats.”

Sypha sighed.

“Simon! You stop that,” she scolded, stepping into the room.

“Ama~ Knock ova!”

“We noticed,” Sypha said dryly. “Come on, let the girls sleep. You can come outside with us and dig in the dirt patch.”

He seemed to think about this for a moment, wavering between the still-sleeping twins and his mother's approval before reluctantly toddling over to Sypha.

“Finna worm?” he asked hopefully.

“Most likely. But you're _not_ to eat them. Papa says that gives you tummy aches.”

Anna stifled a snicker as Sypha lead her son outside, then went to check on her girls. Rosa and Lisa were still asleep, thankfully, and she half-smiled as she leaned on the pen gently. Both girls were copper skinned, a surprising few shades darker than she herself was, and that was the only trait they shared. Rosa had hair that turned a fiery red in the sunlight, and deep brown eyes that carried hints of Alucard's amber, while Lisa's hair was a deep blonde, and her eyes a bright, clear green. Both were human clean through, which was certainly going to make life interesting in a few years, but Anna loved them, and Alucard had a tendency to dote.

“Sleep deep, my darlings,” she murmured softly, reaching in to touch first once cheek, then the other. “Dream easy.”

“An-na! We're not getting the weeding done if you get distracted!” Sypha called.

Anna huffed a soft laugh, and headed out of the tower after a moment more. Soon the girls would be awake, and then things would get _really_ hectic...

But she wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.

“...so, do you think I should surprise Alucard when he comes home, or give it a few days?”

Sypha snickered.

“I think he's going to be delighted no matter when you tell him,” she said dryly. “Though if we could skip the whole fiasco this time...”

“Well, your spells certainly seem to have done the trick in keeping people away, so I'm quite sure there will be no nonsense to speak of. Now. Help me figure out what to say~”

Sypha laughed, and as Simon happily dug in one of the fallow plots of earth, they put their heads together to decide just how to tell Alucard that he was going to have a third child.

End


	3. Little Mermaid part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mermaid's life is supposed to be simple. Possibly even carefree. But nothing is simple where humans are involved.
> 
> A prince rescued from drowning seeks his rescuer; a mermaid seeks to understand what the feelings he's stirred up in her mean. If his heart turns from her, she becomes seafoam on the waves... but if he loves her true, she becomes human to the end of her days.
> 
> Too bad it's not that simple...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to break this up into two parts to post it, I am not sure if I am proud of this or just resigned. (NaNo novel, but since it's part of this series, I don't wanna chapter it up.)
> 
> Trigger warnings for suicidal ideation and attempts.  
Warning for smut scene

Light The Way

“Wake up.”

A hand gripped her shoulder, pulling her out of the hammock of seaweeds she'd hung between two pillars. She mumbled blearily and pushed away from the hands pulling her upright, sliding back through the water until she was half-perched on a rock that had been flattened by the tides. Yawning, she rubbed her eyes then looked around briefly as she convinced her body that it was time to be awake.

Daylight filtered down into the depths somewhat haphazardly, adding color to what were generally gloomy blue and gray surroundings; she saw the corals blooming not too far from where she sat, and the fish that darted around among them. One or two of those fish would make a good breakfast...

“I need you to go out today.”

She lifted her head and focused on her teacher; short, dark hair formed a small, coily cloud around a round, brown face. Strong brown arms were crossed loosely over her chest, on hand loosely wrapped around a fibrous bag that had been stolen from the humans months ago. Narrowed gray eyes studied her for a long moment, revealing little of her mood.

Not that this was new; Atissa rarely revealed much of her moods to anyone, let alone her own apprentice. About the only time she'd seen Atissa get anything approaching emotional was when their ruler had come to the caverns. Atissa had not been fearful, but in awe, and while she had no idea what her teacher and the queen had discussed, when the queen left, Atissa had been far quieter than normal for several days.

They had also worked far harder, and she still didn't know the reason for it. Atissa was not big on explanations.

“Where do I go?” she asked, taking the string bag thrust at her with little ceremony and looping it carefully around her shoulders.

“The depths today. If it feels right, bring it back to me. Understand me?”

She nodded and pushed off from the rock, slipping out of the caverns into the deeper ocean beyond. She didn't much like the depths, but some of the things Atissa needed came from downed human ships, in territory only a few dared venture. She would hardly call herself brave for going there; she was merely obeying the words of the sea witch.

Absently she snatched a few fish a she swept by the reef; food on the go was almost a normality now, and it was better than lingering at the edges of the colony and hoping for hunter's scraps. If she hadn't had magic, she might well have been those scraps...

She plunged into the deep darkness, then shook her wrist gently, activating the coral bracelet she wore; it gleamed softly, creating an aura around her that wafted and cast enough light to mark her as a threat to anything that would normally attempt to make a meal out of an unwary mer.

Her hair brushed past her face and she pushed it aside as she approached the cold, sandy bottom of the sea. Ships laid there, homes for fish and other deep dwellers that were well-preserved by the water itself, though any bodies had been long since eaten. She swam slowly among the ships, taking her time and listening to the ocean as it whispered around her, guiding her first to this ship, then to that one. Her bag filled slowly with little bits and pieces, things that felt right to be picked up, and in the timeless darkness, the only thing that really mattered was how hungry she was by the time she'd finished.

The gilded sunlight had gone, to her disappointment, by the time she rose from the depths, replaced by the silvery light of the moon... and then by strange splashes of color that made her look up as the shadow of a ship crossed overhead.

Humans....

She looked at her bag, then back up at the ship, caution warring with curiosity. She was _just_ old enough to know about humans, if only by rumor and conjecture; they were heavy fishers, and the general law was to remain far away from them for the safety of merkind. But no one had ever said anything about boats that make the sea turn odd colors...

Curiosity won out over caution, though she was quick to bury her bag among a set of rocks so that she wouldn't lose what she'd been sent to gather before she sped after the boat.

Rare was her chance to go to the surface, and once she broke through into the air, she saw more of the colored lights that broke up the darkness of the night sky. The made a loud noise that had her ducking back under the water for a moment, more afraid than curious, but she kept pace with the ship until she was able to swim alongside as though she was a dolphin.

It would have been nice to frolic and cavort like one, but she kept herself low in the water until she saw the strange indents on the side of the ship. Intrigued, she put her hands on them, then scaled the side of the ship, plastering herself to the wood.

Out of the water, movement felt harder; her body was heavier and the winds from the ship's passage made her shiver. Her hair was plastered down her back, tangling a little with the fins of her tail, and almost she decided to let go, to drop back into the sea.

But then she heard the music.

She wouldn't call it fancy, it was nothing like the songs of her kind, but there was something to it, something... happy. She wanted to see it, want to know the reason for it, and so she kept climbing until she found a jutted out piece of wood. What the humans used it for she couldn't be certain, but it suited her just fine to sit on, and allowed her to peer up over the side without leaving concealment.

Humans thronged the deck, putting their hands to drums, or strange looking stringed things, and their mouths to odd silver reeds. She wasn't sure how they were making something she could recognize as music out of that, but somehow, it _was_. And it _was_ cheerful; light and playful in a way that made her think of the way dolphins of the greater seas would frolic about on days with bright sun.

Some of the humans were moving about oddly, stomping down with their legs and moving about one another as though they were in some sort of territorial dispute. She puzzled over this for a bit; they looked like they were happy, and smiling, so what in the name of the tides were they _doing_?

After a moment she shook her head a little and turned her gaze to the humans who were not. Most of them were dark of hair; several had brown skin and coily hair like her teacher, while others concealed the tops of their heads with cloth, skin a strange ruddy color in the light they were using. Most wore things she'd seen on drowned sailors, but in better repair, and she briefly admired the cloth of one man's shirt before her attention moved on.

Of the humans on the ship, two stood out among them; both of them were lighter skinned, and looked to be perhaps a head taller than the others. One had dark hair that seemed unruly, coming down in spikes like fish spines. He seemed quite happy, bobbing his head with the music and occasionally stomping a leg down as well; he held a mug in one hand, a flush on his face, and every so often he would cast a wide smile at his equally out of place companion.

She could not help but stare at the second; she had never seen hair so fair before, or skin quite so pale. It waved in the wind like the frills of a jellyfish, and for a moment her fingers itched like she wanted to touch. As if in response, he combed his hair out of his face absently, turning his gaze briefly upwards as more exploding colors lit the sky.

Something about the way he stood drew her in. It was... sad, somehow. Reserved. Whatever the reason he was one the ship, he was having less fun than the other humans, though he would smile at his companion when he caught him looking. She watched as he turned to his companion, saying something that he accompanied with a slight gesture; not contempt, but not pleasure either....

His companion said something back, and got a small push for the comment, before the fair-haired human moved in her direction. She froze briefly, then ducked down plastering herself against the side of the ship. As long as she stayed in the shadows, as long as he didn't look _down_, she could remain unseen.

She held her breath, held very still as the footsteps reached the railing over her head, and then a long sigh was let out that sounded.... tired. Cautiously she glanced up, and saw the underside of his chin as he leaned over the railing, looking out across the ocean. What expression was on his face?

“Come on Adrian, I was only joking~ Lighten up and enjoy yourself, mate, it's your birthday!”

He turned as his friend also approached the rail, and she closed her eyes briefly, making the slightest of gestures into the wind and accompanying it with a tiny touch of magic. Hopefully neither human was sensitive to such things, and the shadowy concealment she'd worked would make them think her only a trick of the mind if they had cause to look down.

“Yes, my birthday, and I'm celebrating here on a ship instead of in Braila to avoid the hopeful ladies of the court who think only of the prestige they'll gain if they convince me to wed them,” the fair-haired man—Adrian—said dryly. “Because despite the current situation, they are all quite convinced that I will fall into one of their beds.”

“Well, I mean, some of them aren't so bad.”

“Firstly, Trevor, you're drunk so you may have blocked out how bad they can get. Secondly, none of them want to _share_.”

The other man scoffed a little.

“And thirdly, none of them drive me mad in quite the same way as you and Sypha,” Adrian continued with another sigh that sounded worn. “...not to say that they don't drive me a little mad, but it's not quite the same...”

Trevor snorted, and she looked up in time to see him sling an arm around Adrian's shoulders.

“Look, I really don't see what all the fuss is about,” he said, words slurring just a little.

“_Obviously,_” Adrian replied, peeling Trevor's hand off his shoulder.

“No, c'mon, l-lemme finish!”

“....oh all right...”

“You're the _prince_,” Trevor said after a bit, waving his other hand expressively. “S'long as you don't... get anyone pregnant, why _not_ take someone t'bed? You're loads of fun~”

“Because I don't want to take just _anyone_ into my bed,” Adrian replied quietly. “And you're perfectly aware that you and Sypha are not 'just anyone' so don't even try that line.”

“Wasn' gonna.”

“Of course you weren't.”

But she thought the scoff sounded gentle, affectionate, even as it was a little sad.

“Y'ever think you're jus bein too picky?” Trevor asked.

“You're the one that told me you wanted to marry Sypha,” Adrian replied, amusement lacing his tone.

“S'that got t'do with anything?”

“While I'm certainly not opposed to continuing the relationship after you're both married to one another, I... would like someone of my own, you realize. Someone I might share with you, but also could keep to myself.” Adrian was quiet for a moment, and she craned her head a little, trying to see his face. “Someone who looks at me before anyone else...”

Trevor was quiet, leaning against Adrian in a manner she thought seemed thoughtful.

“An' you don't think the ladies will go for you?” he finally asked.

“...I know they're _interested_ in me,” Adrian said, dryness entering his voice. “But they're not interested in letting me continue to be with you and Sypha as _well_ as being with them. And that is the part I'm not inclined to change.”

More silence followed, and she puzzled over the words. It seemed human relationships were much more complicated than those of the sea... but then, she had certainly heard that human matters were _always_ more complicated than those of the sea.

“Well, if they don' wanna share, fuck em,” Trevor said finally. “S'not like any'f them would know what t'do with all this anyways!”

Adrian's chuckle was soft, and he gently pushed the other human.

“I think you've had entirely too much beer,” he said fondly.

“Nah, there's no such thing! An _you_ could prob'ly stand t'have some more! It's _your_ birthday party!”

“I think _someone_ should remain sober, if only to make sure you don't fall into the ocean trying to get back onto the dock,” Adrian replied, shaking his head a little. “Amusing as that might be, Sypha would be very put out if you drowned.”

Trevor snorted a laugh, swinging the hand with a mug loosely over the rail. She ducked and winced as some of what was in the mug splattered over her hair and skin; overhead, Adrian sighed slightly, and she looked up in time to see him shaking his head in what she _thought_ was fond amusement.

“Y'know, we could go have some fun f'our own~” Trevor said with a grin.

“I'm quite sure you're much too drunk for that. Besides, there's something...”

She looked out, following the gaze of the human and her eyes widened. While they had been speaking and she'd been listening, great clouds had gathered. The wind took on a bite as lightning crackled among the clouds, and she looked up to see that both humans had abandoned their places.

She turned, tracking them as Adrian helped Trevor stagger over to sit down, then watched until he was at a higher part of the ship where she couldn't see him. The wind picked up rapidly, and she looked to the other humans, who had abandoned their music making and were now following the bellowed orders of their leader, grabbing ropes as their sails swung hard in the conflicting currents of air.

She could do nothing for the humans, so with one last glance for the fair-haired man, she dove down into the water, moments ahead of the first strike of lightning. Even as the water closed in around her and she dove for the depths that would protect her, she couldn't help bur regret that she had to leave the humans behind.

Something in her demanded she keep pace with the ship, watching it as the humans tried to keep it from foundering in the storm that so suddenly besieged them. Smaller boats were released as the lightning struck the ship a second and third time; even underwater as she was, she knew that this ship was going to join the others in the depths below.

But maybe the humans could all make it off safely...

She had to watch, had to wait until she knew for certain. She surfaced again, throwing her hair out of her face and watched anxiously as the little boats were tossed about in the water, as the fire climbed higher on the ship. Saw the prince as he staggered to the railing... but before he could jump into the water, before the waves themselves could wash him overboard, the ship exploded, sending wood and glass raining into the water.

“_Adrian!_”

Trevor was on one of the small boats, but Adrian...

She flung herself underwater to avoid the debris and frantically looked about. Legs overhead, or a body below, she _had_ to know if he still lived. She didn't know if a human _could_ survive something like that, but until she was sure...

She spotted him at last, just as his grip gave way and he began to sink beneath the waves. She went after him, caught him under the arms and strove for the surface; if there was one thing she _did_ know it was that humans couldn't breathe as she did.

But the surface was still dangerous; high waves made it difficult to keep him above the water, and she couldn't reach the small boats with the wood and ship remnants in the way. She thought hard for a moment, then pressed her mouth to Adrian's breathing a small bit of magic into him that would make the water as breathable as the air.

Then back down into the waters she went, pulling him along behind. It was easier to dodge the slowly sinking debris when she didn't have to fight the rolling waves as well, and she turned towards the nearest human-held land she knew of.

Fleetingly she gave thought to what her teacher was going to say for taking so long, then dismissed it; that humans died at sea all the time wasn't lost on her, but she _wanted_ to save this one. No amount of disapproval could change that desire.

Pulling a limp body was more difficult than carrying a bag of ingredients, but she swam gamely on until she reached the coastline she thought the ship had been heading for. Cautiously she lifted her head above the waves, then let out a small breath of relief; the storm had passed, and it would be safe to leave this human on the beach, above the tide line to be rescued.

Getting Adrian _on_ to the beach took effort. Out of the water he was much heavier, and while she was arguably stronger than a human, she had never really had cause to pull one around before. _Especially_ not on dry land. Rescuing humans was hard work...

She pulled him into the shelter of some rocks, where the wind would be ablated and he might not get too cold as the sun started to come up, turned him carefully on his side, and withdrew her breath of magic from him. With it came the water he'd been breathing, pouring out onto the sand as he coughed and hacked his way to breathing air again.

Carefully, hand on his back, she sent small threads of magic into him, healing the damage he'd sustained from being flung into the ocean so fast. Overhead the sky continued to lighten, a clear and cloudless blue that belied the weather of the night, but she ignored it, ignored the passing of time until she was assured that she had done all she could.

She let Adrian lay on his back, briefly resting her palm on his chest to make sure his heart was still beating, then lifted her head abruptly as the wind carried the sound of voices to her ears. Humans were on the beach. Not only were they on the beach, they were coming her way... which meant someone would find him, and he would be safe. She nodded a little, shifted on the sand, and threw herself back into the ocean, swimming hurriedly away until she could find a rock to hide behind and watch.

She would watch until she was _sure_ someone was going to find him...

-

Adrian hacked up the seawater, dimly wondering just how much he'd swallowed before he'd ended up on the sand. How was he _not_ dead, for that matter, and why? They hadn't been close to the shore as far as he'd known, and he had definitely _not_ hit one of the lifeboats.

As sensation returned, he registered a hand on his back; small and firm, keeping him on his side... and oddly warm. In fact, despite being soaked to the skin, he actually felt _quite_ warm, as though he'd been laying in his feather bed, warmed by bricks and braziers all night.

But the storm had not been a dream; warm or not, he could _feel_ his water-saturated clothes, and he could remember the words he'd shared with Trevor before being aware that the weather had turned.

Trevor...

_“Get to the longboat!” Adrian ordered. “You're in no condition to help the sailors, Trevor!”_

_ “Fuck that, I'm not going to prepare to abandon you to the damn elements!” Trevor shot back, his grip on Adrian's arm tighter than usual. “You think I can sit back and watch someone else I love die?”_

_ It was a low blow, but also a deserved one; how could he order Trevor to leave, knowing how the man felt? And yet..._

_ “There's no time to argue!” Adrian retorted, turning his best friend, his lover, and giving him a hard shove in the direction of the other sailors ready to jump ship. Given that the main mast was on fire, there weren't many other options. “I'll get the captain, _you_ get to safety!_”

_“Damnit Adr-”_

_Part of the mast hit the deck, throwing them apart whether they wanted to be or not, and Adrian lay stunned on the wooden planks momentarily as the fire cascaded around him. With a groan he rolled to his feet, vainly seeking Trevor beyond the smoke and fire, through the driving rain that made not one shred of difference to the flames now beginning to engulf the ship._

_ “Adrian!”_

_ There, upright and being pulled away by the sailors._

_ “I'll go around!” Adrian yelled back, pointing at the somehow undamaged stairs. “I'll meet you!”_

_ He'd turned then, staggering towards the railing as the ship rolled hard under his feet instead of towards the forecastle stairs. And then...._

His head ached abominably, and the small hand rolled him onto his back, allowing him to really register the sand he was laying on. For a moment the hand rested against his chest, gentle and soft; a woman's hand, he thought dimly. Smaller than Sypha's, but stronger somehow...

The hand went stiff, and he started to open his eyes, wanting to reassure whoever had rescued him that he was, in fact, alive. He caught the barest glimpse of his rescuer—deep red-brown hair plastered to bare, golden-skinned shoulders obscured most of her face—before she flung herself out of his line of sight. Into the ocean?

Adrian sat up with a groan, loosely wrapping his arms around his ribs as he heard what she had; voices shouting his name. More than that, _Trevor's_ voice shouting his name.

He staggered to his feet and looked around in vain for whoever had rescued him; surely she couldn't have gotten far... but there was no one else there, no one in sight, until he staggered around the rock that had sheltered him, and there was Trevor and several other sailors looking ragged and exhausted.

“Adrian! Oh thank God.”

Trevor's inebriation had clearly faded with the storm, and Adrian was nothing loathe to let his friend grab him up in a hug of relief. He rested his head on Trevor's shoulder and hugged back, if not as tightly, and closed his eyes against the brilliance of the sun.

“What... happened?” he murmured.

“Fuck if I know,” Trevor replied honestly, burying his face briefly in Adrian's soaked hair. “The fire must've hit the gunpowder kegs, and we thought you were still on the ship! How'd you _get_ here?”

“I don't... I don't know,” Adrian admitted, pulling away a little and looking around in no small amount of bewilderment. “I thought... I thought there was someone with me. But...”

“...mebbe you caught a mer attention,” one of the sailors offered cautiously. “Down in those depths, they's sometimes inclined t'be merciful t'wards us landfolk.”

“...maybe,” Adrian said after a moment, turning a bit more towards the ocean.

“Or maybe you're just a lucky bastard,” Trevor said, rolling his eyes a little. “Come on; there's a doctor in the port, and we're going to need to send a message to your parents so we can get a ship home.”

“...that and some dry clothes would not go amiss.”

But he looked out towards the ocean for a moment longer before allowing Trevor to pull him away; he had not imagined that small, warm hand. But how was he going to thank his rescuer when he couldn't even figure out where she was?

-

She slid underwater in relief, and dove into the deep; it was going to take ages to get back to her teacher, having been required to go so far out of the way to save the human, but that was fine. She had saved her first human, and that made her feel warm inside, banishing the worry that she might have somehow done wrong.

Oh, it wasn't common for her kind to save humans, and she knew that. You had to be in the right place, the humans had to be still living when they hit the water for it to even be worth the effort, and there just weren't enough mer who _wanted_ to save humans for it to be a worthwhile effort.

She swam slow, tired after being up all night, battling storm-driven waters, and magic, but resisted the urge to dig down into the sand and rest for a few hours. She still had to get back to her bag, and then get back to her teacher before she could let herself sleep.

-

Atissa did not mention how long the gathering had taken, nor the storm that had wreaked havoc on the surface, and she was allowed to rest in her hammock, to sleep with the sway of the tides once she had given her teacher the bag of gathered items.

Her dreams were filled with the fair-haired prince, his voice echoing in her mind; as was so often the way of dreams, he had not his human legs, but a tail of his own, and she danced with him in the deep water.

Waking left her feeling empty and sad, lost in a way she hadn't been since finding Atissa to teach her sea magic. She wanted to see Adrian again, but the coast where she'd left him was very far... not to mention she suspected it wasn't his home. And there was little point in being invested in a human; his world was not hers, and she could not fit into it on her own.

She did her best to put him out of her mind; she played with the fish among the reefs, and watched when Atissa crafted with the gathered items. She learned when Atissa taught her, ate when she was hungry and slept when she was tried. She watched as other mer approached the caverns with wariness, bartering things for Atissa's sea magic...

But though time passed, the memory of the fair-haired human did not leave her mind, and eventually, she decided to take one of Atissa's lessons and actually use it.

Scrying was not her main skill; they had discovered early on that sensing the usefulness of spell components and healing others were what came easily and naturally. Healing could—often did—loan itself to transformations, but that was a skill to learn _after_ her magic had given her a name. And that wouldn't happen until Atissa deemed her ready.

She looked at the items she had gathered together, the ones that felt right for the spell, then looked at the water-hollowed rock she had selected to combine them in. She had seen Atissa perform this particular spell several times at the request of others, and knew it benefited most in having something from the person to be scried upon. But she had nothing but her memory of Adrian, the memory that refused to fade into the background and let her find peace.

Maybe if she saw him again, the questions that rattled about in her mind would leave her be.

One by one she added the pieces, then the magic, mixing them together until a deep mist flowed out of the bowl, until it spiraled in the water before her and she was able to look through it and see...

Her heart jumped slightly; he was sleeping, the hair spilled over his pillows like the finest strands of jellyfish tendrils. He looked peaceful at rest, and still somehow _sad_. Alone in a way the spoke to her.

After a moment his eyes opened and he sat up, looking around warily. His mouth moved, forming words she couldn't hear, but his expression suggested that he had sensed the spell, and she quickly waved her hand through the mixture, scattering it and the spell into nothingness.

He was well. She had seen his face, and he had looked well.

But somehow, that didn't make her feel much better.

-

“You were being scried upon?” Sypha asked, a coppery brow going up in surprise. “How could you tell?”

“I know how it feels to be watched like that,” Adrian replied, hands wrapped loosely around a mug of tea. “Father would sometimes do it when I was young and prone to being more exploratory while he and Mother were busy.”

“Ah, yes, your childhood mischief years,” she teased gently. “Where you and Trevor would wreak as much havoc as possible in as little time you could.”

Adrian flushed slightly and looked down at the tea. She wasn't _wrong_, but it was a bit embarrassing to think about how much trouble he'd caused as a young prince, and how much _more_ had come about when his parents had taken Trevor into their household as his friend.

“So why come tell me?” Sypha asked, settling into the other chair. “I can't exactly ward you away from _being_ scried upon.”

“No, I just... Trevor would dismiss it, again, but I think it's the person who rescued me from drowning.”

Sypha blinked, and cocked her head slightly, studying him with a thoughtful look in her blue eyes. Usually he liked it when Sypha looked at him; normally her attention was split between him and Trevor, with Trevor admittedly getting the bulk of it. Today it just made him feel worried. Uneasy, even.

“I've been doing some research into that,” she said after a long moment. “But no one I've spoken to is really _convinced_ that there's merpeople out in the Marea Neagră. There's been maybe one or two sailors who've come this far upriver to tell their stories, but...”

“But for most people it's just the strangeness of the ocean,” he sighed a little in resignation.

“I'll keep looking; I  _believe_ you.”

“I know, I'm not...” Adrian sighed again, shaking his head slightly. “It's easier to give Trevor and the other sailors the credit, honestly, but I wish I knew who had really helped me. If nothing else so I can express my gratitude.”

It wasn't the only reason, but it was the biggest; he truly  _did_ want to thank the woman who'd saved him, but more than that he wanted to know  _who_ she was.  _How_ had she saved him, and for what purpose? Why had she disappeared instead of staying when he'd been found?

“Maybe you should see about going down to the coast?” Sypha suggested after a minute. “I know it's not the same coast you washed up on, but maybe it could help.”

“....I'd like to, but,” He shook his head after a moment. “There's too much to be done right now. And I don't think my mother would be best pleased if I decided to go traipsing along the coast either. She thinks I still need some time to recover.”

“Well, she's probably not wrong,” Sypha allowed. “But it could be that the only way you'll find this person is by traveling along the coastline.” After a moment she chuckled. “And then you could tell Trevor you were right and he was wrong~”

Adrian chuckled slightly, and sipped at the tea, relaxing a little into the well-padded couch.

“I get to say that enough already, and I don't think he'd be very happy if I tried to pull him away from  _you_ ,” he said dryly. “How is he doing?”

“...well, he's sleeping through most nights again,” she said after a moment. “Though I do think he'd benefit more from you staying in his room a time or two instead of sleeping apart. And don't give me that line about mornings being awkward, you know perfectly well you're both welcome to come sleep here.”

He smiled wryly, ruefully, and tipped his head in acknowledgment; to say that him almost dying had shaken Trevor was a bit of an understatement, though getting the Belmont man to admit it was a bit like pulling teeth. It only came clear at night, when Trevor woke from nightmares and struggled to fall back to sleep without the reassurance that everyone was fine, everyone was safe, and it had only been a dream.

It had only been two weeks; he could hardly blame Trevor for _not_ sleeping any more than he could blame Sypha for staying with him in the night. Perhaps he had been a little too focused on his own recovery to pay the proper attention...

“Will you be coming up tonight as well?” he asked after a moment.

“No. My grandfather wants me to help him inventory the shop tonight, and that will take a while,” and she looked a little regretful. Then she looked stern. “So you had _better_ be there for him.”

Adrian laughed softly, unable to hide his admiration. She was such a strong, opinionated woman, he honestly envied Trevor at times, even as he was glad they made room for him. And he knew full well that if he found someone for himself, they would make room for that person as well, for him if for no other reason.

“Well, I'll do my best, but you know how he gets sometimes.”

She rolled her eyes tolerantly.

“That's why you have to sit on him,” Sypha said a little tartly. “It's not like he doesn't enjoy it.”

“Yes, but sometimes we also have to be allowed our ridiculous pride,” he pointed out with a smile.

“Don't you mean ego?”

“Or that,” he allowed with a small snort of amusement. “But I will endeavor to do my best.”

“Good. And if someone spies on you again, perhaps mention it to your parents? I don't like the idea of someone.... watching. You know?”

He nodded in agreement, then turned the topic to the much lighter subject; the books they would be getting into her family's shop.

-

It should have been enough to see him, to know that he was alive and well. He was human, their worlds weren't meant to meet, and that was simply that.

And yet....

And yet.

She sat on her favorite rock and looked down at the coral, and the fish that darted among the fronds of the various plants. She knew she shouldn't scry him again, knew she shouldn't try to figure out where he was, but she _wanted_ to. She wanted to find him again and hear his voice, even if he wasn't speaking to her, to watch him walk among other humans and know for certain that he hadn't suffered ill effects from the sea magic she'd used on him.

But how could she do that when she had nothing that tied them? She could see him because she couldn't forget him, but seeing him wouldn't lead her _to_ him. And even if she _could_ get to him, what would be the point? He wouldn't know her, and couldn't be allowed _to _know her. Her people had stayed in this small ocean through years of secrecy and caution; she wouldn't risk her entire species just to see one human.

“You're _worse_ than any lovesick mer I've laid eyes on,” Atissa said abruptly, “and I have seen plenty. If you're this _bothered_ by someone, for the love of the tides, go _see_ them.”

“...I can't,” she admitted. “It's... He's not one of our kind.”

“Humans,” Atissa said in moderate disgust, “are not worth wasting this much energy on. You do understand that, don't you?”

“How did you-”

“Girl, if you think I don't know the look of a mer wanting what she can't have, you've not been paying attention to those who come to the caverns,” was the tart reply.

She ducked her head a little sheepishly; that was certainly a good way to put things.

“...what should I do?”

“What _have_ you done?” Atissa countered.

“I... I saved a human from drowning. The human ship was somehow spewing colored lights into the sky, so I... I was there when the storm hit the ship, and was able to keep him alive. I put him on the land and waited until the humans found him. A-and I've scried him, once, just to make sure he was really okay...”

Atissa's full lips pulled down in a frown that was as much thoughtful as disapproving. She winced a ducked her head, looking back over the coral as her teacher silently pondered.

“Scry him again,” Atissa finally said. “We shall see where this human is.”

She looked up in surprise.

“I... again? But...”

“You're not going to stop wanting until you _do_ something. To do something, we must know where this human is, and arguably how to reach him. Therefore, you will scry him, and then I will expand the spell to see more.”

She blinked, hesitated, then nodded. Atissa nodded as well, and she went into the cavern, followed by her teacher.

-

Adrian sprawled somewhat inelegantly over a balcony of the manor by the sea, looking out across the blue water to the misty horizon. It was almost hilarious to have it be his own mother's idea, that he go back to the sea and stop moping around the palace. It still wasn't the correct _shore_, but he wasn't inclined to get onto another ship and sail across the sea to Mongol territory, not after it had taken close to a week to return to Wallachia.

Not to mention he was quite sure Trevor would _vehemently_ protest the idea, considering the initial crossing had been what had almost gotten them both drowned in the first place.

Admittedly, it was nice to be away from the press of the court, to have the sea breeze blowing his hair out of his face and have all of his problems staying behind in the city. The only 'hopeful' nearby was Sypha, and she was much more interested in sightseeing, story gathering, and Trevor.

He glanced over his shoulder at the bed he'd left behind, half-smiling to see that his two lovers had elected to curl up closer to one another with him out of the way. It was much less awkward than at the palace in Braila; no one here was demanding he pretend to be subtle about his affections.

He turned his gaze back out over the water as the stars faded out one by one, the horizon slowly turning lighter as dawn approached. He had nothing to go on, and as much as he wished he could forget it, he just couldn't manage to let it go. A month already since the event, but he still couldn't forget the feel of that small, strong hand on his back, or the warmth he had felt spreading from that touch.

Adrian sighed and hung his head a little, then pushed himself off the balcony. As he turned to go in, he felt an odd tingle to the air and froze, looking around cautiously.

Someone was watching him again...

Silently he cursed the casual nature of the moment that had left him not wearing the charm he'd had crafted, and wondered if he dared to stride into the room to grab it. But if he did that, whoever was watching him might see the other two, might learn more than he wanted them to learn.

The tingle faded out slowly as he stood there, letting the sunlight wash over him, until he couldn't feel it any longer. He still waited an additional few minutes until he was absolutely certain that it was gone before turning and walking carefully into the bedroom. He caught up the charm from where it had landed haphazardly the night before, looping it around his neck, and felt as though something _popped_.

He grimaced a little, casting a wary look over his shoulder at the rising sun, then pulled his clothes on and slipped silently out of the room. Whatever that had been, he didn't like it, and he was going to have to be more careful in the future.

-

“Someone does not like being watched,” Atissa said as the mist dissipated in the swirling waters. “But there was enough time to know which coast. So then, what will you do? Will you bargain?”

She bit her lip and looked down at her hands. This was a dangerous path to walk down, to bargain for humanity. And she was still nameless, still weak in magic and skill. She had so little to offer her kind, how could she think to have more to offer to humanity.

But....

To be with him. Touch him.

Oh, she wanted it.

“What can I bargain with?” she finally asked. “I have-”

“Your sight, your hearing, your voice,” Atissa said shortly. “One of these would make the bargain, _if_ you are so inclined.”

She closed her eyes and tried to imagine life on land without the ability to see. She plugged her ears and did the same. And then she considered what it would be like to not be able to speak. After a long moment she nodded.

“I will trade you my voice.”

“Come then, and we will strike the terms.”

Atissa turned and made for the shadowy depths of the caverns, and she followed behind until they were in the room where Atissa made bargains.

“You cannot take this back,” Atissa said abruptly. “Once you are human, that is all you can be.”

She nodded in a subdued manner; leaving behind the sea would be hard, as it was all she had ever known, all she had wanted to know. But when she closed her eyes and saw the smile of the prince, remembered the way he felt as she pulled him to the human coast and onto the sand above, the desire to know him, to know that world pulled at her. _Demanded_ her attention.

Would he teach her? Or would he expect her to know human things as humans did because of the human form?

“You are choosing to bind your energy, your fate, to a human that may choose another to be his life,” Atissa said, normally sharp voice quiet. “You know the consequences of that.”

She nodded again; every few decades, this seemed to happen to one of them. Rescuing a human seemed to trigger some sort of latent desire in her kind, but if that human turned away from them, if that human chose to love and marry another human...

“I would become seafoam with the dawn,” she said softly.

“Yes.”

She closed her eyes, and took in a long breath. Could she do this? Could she _really_ do this, trading her long life under the sea for a short life with a human who didn't know her; trading her voice away on the off chance that just _maybe_ he would see her and decide he wanted her as much as she wanted him?

It was so _strange_, this desire to see him again, to touch him and know him. Perhaps she hadn't given it enough time to fade, perhaps if she tried harder, she could let go of the sunlight hair, and the sadness under the warmth of his voice.

Or perhaps those things would cling to her forever. And it would be too late, too late if she waited.

“...I see you are resolved. Very well. In exchange for your voice, I will give you human legs and human life.”

Atissa seemed... almost sad as she picked up a spiral shell and handed it to her.

“Speak into this until you can say no more, and I will craft what you need.”

-

“Remind me again why we're walking down the beach at this hours?” Trevor asked with a yawn.

“Because last night's storm was brutal enough to do some damage to the boats at the marina,” Adrian replied patiently, “and there's a chance that some of those boats came unmoored and could have hit the nearby crags.”

“Okay, but that doesn't explain why _we're_ doing this,” Trevor retorted. “I could be in bed still...”

Adrian rolled his eyes in tolerant good humor; they had left Sypha to sleep alone, and he was quite sure _that_ was where Trevor's mind was, not the fact that sometimes fishermen slept in their boats to prepare for early morning fishing.

“We're doing it because I woke up early and _you_ decided I wasn't supposed to leave the house without you,” he said instead. “If you want to go back to the manor, I'm hardly going to stop you.”

“...Sypha would eat me if she found out I left you by yourself,” Trevor grumbled a little. “You know how she worries.”

Adrian half-smiled, shaking his head a little. Trevor might complain about the hour, but in truth _he_ was the one who worried. It was honestly a little touching, even as it was a bit annoying; he'd wanted to have a solitary walk while he listened to the waves sweep the shore after the storm...

But after a moment he just mentally shrugged; no point in complaining about what was already happening. He _did_ like Trevor's company just as much as he liked Sypha's, and if it reassured Trevor to follow along, well, Adrian wasn't going to really put up too much of a fuss.

Even if the grumbling _was_ getting a bit tiresome.

The sun felt nice on his shoulders, at least, warm and comfortable to counter the steadiness of the breeze that was coming off the water. And the air felt fresher somehow, after the previous night's storm...

He rounded a rock and stopped short in surprise; despite having mentioned to Trevor the idea that some boats could have smashed up along the rocks, he hadn't actually expected that to be a thing... but there it was, a small boat, smashed to bits among the rocks. And there was...

Adrian broke into a sprint, leaving Trevor behind as the small form, half-buried under canvas sails, stirred weakly. Trevor swore and caught up easily as Adrian dropped to one knee and started trying to move the sails.

“What's a _girl_ doing in a shipwreck?” Trevor grunted a little as he lifted part of the mast so that Adrian could cut away at the canvas. “Though sailors believed women on a ship was... bad luck, r'something?”

“Could be it's her ship,” Adrian replied, working away with his dagger. “Just because sailors hold it's bad luck doesn't mean women aren't going to go out on the boats anyways, you know this.”

He glanced down at the girl—no, not a girl, a young woman, probably close in age to Sypha—and smiled a little, sympathetically, when he saw that her eyes were opened, if glazed a bit with... well, it looked rather like pain.

“Don't worry, miss, we've almost got you out. Are you all right?”

Trevor muttered a little as he shoved more canvas aside, then half-turned away as this revealed the fact that she didn't have so much as a stitch on her. Adrian flushed a little as she pushed herself upright, quickly shrugging out of his jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders. She blinked at him, green eyes slowly clearing of the haze of pain, then carefully wrapped her fingers in the fabric.

“Are you all right?” he repeated.

Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. After a moment she just offered a small shrug.

“Can't speak?”

She shook her head, and offered instead a tiny, weary smile. Adrian hesitated a moment, then offered her his hand.

“Here. Let's see if you can stand.”

She looked at his hand, then at his face. Slowly, as if she wasn't entirely sure what she was doing, her hand slipped into his. Something about the hand was almost... _familiar_.

He pushed the thought aside and got to his feet, then helped her to stand.

She tried, he would certainly give her credit for that much, but it didn't go well at all. It was almost like she'd never stood before in her life... Her legs buckled almost before she had her feet settled on the sand, and he caught her up before he could really think twice about it, bracing her against his chest.

“...you're shaking,” he said, surprised. “Are you hurt?”

“I don't see any injuries,” Trevor said after a moment, as the young woman just pressed her face against his shirt. “Maybe she's just cold and frightened.”

Adrian leaned back a little, trying to get a look at her face; there was more to it than just being cold, though with her being naked under his coat he certainly couldn't rule that out. She had bitten her lip hard enough to make it bleed just slightly, and there was something about that he didn't much care for. She seemed to be in pain but also... trying to hide it?

“...here, slip your arms into the sleeves so I can fasten the coat,” he said gently. “Trevor, could you come help her stay upright for a moment?”

Trevor sighed a little, but obligingly stepped closer, resting one hand on her shoulder, and the other on her back as Adrian helped her put the coat on properly, and then quickly clasped it closed. She looked at both of them wide wide green eyes, and Adrian found himself smiling a little; she looked almost to be in awe, even as she was in pain.

“All right... I can carry you back to the manor, and we'll get in a doctor to look you over. Unless you live somewhere nearby and have... family to look after you?”

It wasn't that he wanted to get rid of her, but surely someone would be looking for a missing sister, daughter, or wife... But she shook her head and lifted her arms a little, taking a wobbling step that more or less necessitated him to catch her before she fell over as the pain flashed across her face again. Quickly he lifted her up into his arms, and as she rested her head against his shoulder, felt something in him relax.

“We'll go back to the manor then, and send for a doctor to make sure there's nothing broken or damaged,” he said, turning to start back up the beach. “I'm sure Sypha will be glad to have another lady around, considering how often she despairs of us.”

“Hey, speak for yourself,” Trevor said with a small snort, catching up easily. “I haven't done anything to annoy her.”

“_Recently._”

Trevor snorted a little, and very gently shoved him; Adrian rolled his eyes tolerantly, unable to shove back because his arms were filled with the voiceless young woman.... who seemed to be studying them with narrowed green eyes. Wary? Or curious? It was hard to tell, but there was something in the way she was settled that suggested he should get ahead of any judgment she might make.

“He's very good at annoying his girlfriend,” Adrian said, smirking a little as Trevor scoffed. “I sometimes wonder how she puts up with him~”

“She knows quality when she sees it,” Trevor replied, affecting a mock-injured pose.

“Of course she does~”

-

It was warm, comfortable being in his arms. Being carried as though already she had value to him, instead of just sympathy. Adrian's hands and voice were gentle, and his smile kind. The cloth around her was soft, and though she didn't _entirely_ understand why they had both been embarrassed, she was willing to accept that this was one of the human things she was going to have to learn about. Perhaps this 'Sypha' would be willing to teach her?

She let her head rest against his shoulder and tuned out the gentle banter of the two men; she got the sense that Trevor was suspicious of her, and she wasn't exactly surprised. He seemed very protective, and she expected it might take him a while to warm up to her. That was fine; she wasn't here for him, she was here for Adrian.

“Trevor, get the door, would you?”

There was some strain in Adrian's voice now, and she looked up at him anxiously; the smile he gave back was clearly meant to be reassuring, but she suspected that carrying her from the beach up the incline to this large—what had he called it, a manor? What did that mean?—dwelling hadn't been as easy as he was trying to make it seem.

She pushed against him a little, wanting to get down; it would hurt to walk, but it was _always_ going to hurt to walk, and perhaps it was better to simply get used to it. But his grip tightened slightly.

“It's all right, miss, I've got you,” he said softly as Trevor pushed the door open. “We'll get you set up in one of the guest rooms, and send for the doctor to make sure you have no serious injuries.”

“_There_ you two a- Oh no, what happened this time?”

“Good morning to you too, Sypha,” Adrian said dryly as a young woman hurried up to them. “We found her on the beach, in the remnants of a boat that hit the rocks. It seemed expedient to bring her here instead of asking around for her family...”

Sypha was lovely, she decided as the woman looked from one man to the other then at her. She liked those blue eyes, and the fluffy cloud of short ginger hair. She looked like someone who would be nice to know.

“Is she... are you hurt?”

“She can't speak,” Adrian said before she could indicate this herself. “And she wasn't walking very well. I was going to put her to bed, and then have someone summon a doctor to make sure there's no injuries I might have missed...”

There was that odd word again. What in the seas was a _doctor_?

“Well, it will take some time to open up a guest room, so we might as well put her in yours for the moment,” Sypha said with a sigh. “We can send Anica for the doctor, I suppose... But... do you even _need_ a doctor?”

It was the first time the question had been posed to her, and she blinked, then shrugged. She didn't know what a doctor was, so how could she know if she needed one?

“Hmm...”

“Look, we can send for one anyways, since it's not that big a deal,” Trevor said, and his tone seemed... impatient. “But Adrian's been carrying her since he figured out she wasn't walking well, so really putting her in a bed should come first.”

“And properly clothing her in something that is not your coat,” Sypha said after a moment as Adrian started towards a hallway, absently shifting her a little as if to tuck her slightly closer. Since she liked that, she let her head rest against his shoulder again. “Why _is_ she in your coat?”

“Ah... She has no clothing...”

“No- _well_... That's...” Sypha pursed her lips for a moment, then shook her head a little. “She can borrow mine, and once the doctor's had a look at her, we can figure out what to do from there.”

Adrian leaned down slightly and gave Sypha's cheek a quick kiss as Trevor opened another door that lead into the room she had seen when she and Atissa had been scrying him.

“You're wonderful,” he said with a warm fondness that made her heart clench with unease. “Do you mind staying with her?”

“No, of course not. You and Trevor go handle the details, I'll help her.”

Adrian settled her on the bed, then moved to turn and leave, stopping short when she reached out and grabbed his hand in both of hers.

“It's all right,” he said, turning to face her and gently squeezing her hands. “Sypha will make sure you're properly looked after.”

She shook her head a little, and clung to his hand pleadingly.

“...I think she likes you,” and there was a teasing note in Sypha's voice.

“No accounting for taste,” was Trevor's comment from near the door.

Adrian made a face at his friends, then turned back and crouched a little to be more on level with her.

“I won't be gone long,” he said soothingly. “Sypha will help you get cleaned up, and by the time that's done, Trevor and I will be back with breakfast. You must be hungry after what happened, yes?”

She hesitated, then nodded slowly. He smiled warmly at her, and squeezed her hands again.

“The doctor is a ways away, so we'll have breakfast before he comes to look at you, and then maybe we'll find you some clothes that would fit you. But to do any of that, I have to go talk to some of the servants. All right?”

There was more to it, she thought; something about them seeing her body that she didn't quite understand. Was it wrong to be nude? Why would that be wrong? Why did he have to leave even though she wanted him to stay?

He sighed a little, and put his other hand gently on her head.

“I promise. I won't be gone long.”

She didn't want him to be gone at all, but reluctantly she loosened her grip until he could pull his hand away. She didn't take her eyes off him, however, until the door closed, and she was left with Sypha, who was studying her speculatively.

“It really won't be long,” she said after a moment, smiling a little. “Here, let's change you into something a little more comfortable than his jacket. Can you stand?”

She gritted her teeth and got to her feet, then let out a hiss of pain and tried not to crumple. Atissa had said that being human would _hurt_, but she hadn't said it would hurt this _much_. It surprised her how quickly Sypha was at her side, supporting her and easing her back down onto the bed, but she didn't fight it.

“Is that normal for you? To be hurting the minute you stand up?”

She offered a somewhat helpless shrug and took a moment to catch her breath. It seemed like that was going to be the case, at least... which meant it was probably better to try and get used to it instead of giving up and sitting back down because it hurt.

But when she tried to get up, Sypha put a hand on her shoulder and kept her from doing it.

“It's okay. You sit, and I'll see what we can do about putting a gown on you.”

-

“How far _are_ you going to go with taking care of her?” Trevor asked, leaning against the wall as the kitchen servants made up breakfast trays. “For all you know, she could be a thief or a murderer.”

Adrian snorted a little, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, a murderer's ship crashed on the beach, leaving her bare and with nothing to claim as her own,” he said dryly. “I understand she's worrying to you, but frankly, I think she's harmless. She could barely _walk_, Trevor, and unless she's keeping a weapon in a very intimate place, I think I'm perfectly safe.”

“She could be a mage,” Trevor insisted stubbornly. “You know Countess Carmilla employs them every now and again to do her dirty work, there's nothing saying she couldn't have arranged this.”

That gave him pause, but then he thought about the look in those green eyes, and shook his head a little. Whatever it was she might be, thinking of killing him was probably _not_ on the list. He'd seen that sort of infatuation in the eyes of the ladies of the court...

“Trevor, even if she _is_ a mage, she's had a rough time of it. For all we know she was assaulted and left on the beach and the wrecked ship was just a hiding place in case the brutes came back,” Adrian replied a little impatiently. “We won't know anything until we can figure out a way for her to communicate with us.”

Trevor made a frustrated noise, scowling a little.

“I know you're worried,” Adrian sighed a little, raking a hand through his hair. “But whatever she might have been or might be, right _now_ she's lost and I believe a bit scared. She needs a doctor, a bath, food, and proper clothes, and I see no problem with providing her these things. It's not like I can't afford it, and she doesn't look like someone who's used to pampering...”

In fact, thinking of those circular scars that stood out against her coppery skin, he was willing to _bet_ on it. Of course, that brought his mind right back around to the fact that she had been _very_ naked, and he felt heat rise in his cheeks a bit.

“If it will make you feel better, you can spread the word that we've found her, but without even a name to go off of, I don't think it'll help that much,” Adrian continued, trying to ignore the way his pants now felt a bit _too_ tight. “Until she goes home, I think letting her stay here is prudent.”

Now it was Trevor's turn to sigh, and he shook his head a little.

“All right, fine, but _you're_ going to be the one telling your parents. I really doubt your father will accept 'she followed me home' as an excuse...”

“Well, perhaps by that time we'll know more about her and what she can do,” Adrian replied, chuckling a little. “I think my father might find that amusing, honestly. Mother less so, but...”

After a moment he shrugged lightly; his parents were something of an anomaly among other kings and queens. His mother hadn't even been nobility, just a humble doctor who had taken care of his father when he'd become ill. By the time he'd recovered, they'd been in love, and law of the land allowed the crown prince to choose his bride as he so pleased.

“That's a bridge we'll cross when we get there, _if_ we get there,” he finished. “Let's get the breakfast up to Sypha before-”

From the direction of the stairs came a series of soft thuds and a startled exclamation. Adrian shared a look with Trevor, and they both hurried out of the kitchen to the main hall to see that Sypha was crouched down next to their rescuee, who was laying in a dazed heap at the bottom of the stairs.

“...she's really quite stubborn,” Sypha said as Adrian hurried up in alarm. “She wouldn't stay down once I got her dressed, and no amount of assurances that you'd be back soon helped, so I thought...”

“Fell down the stairs?” Trevor asked, and it was clear in his tone that he was trying not to laugh. “I've done that.”

The girl looked up, and Adrian winced a little; she'd plainly hit her head on the banister, a bruise already blooming on her forehead.

“You fell down the stairs because you were drunk,” Sypha said a little tartly.

“Yup~”

She made an exasperated noise at him as Adrian helped the silent woman to sit up... and felt oddly comforted when she elected to lean against him. She was in one of Sypha's gowns, though it was clearly a shade too large for her, and over the top she still wore his jacket.

“Are you all right?” he asked softly.

She looked up at him. Shrugged. Then blinked in surprise as he gently touched her forehead. She brought up her own hand to probe the spot, winced a little, then passed her fingers over it again. It was his turn to blink in surprise as the swelling visibly faded, the bruise disappearing as though it had never been.

“You're a healer...”

She looked up at him, then nodded a small, shy smile blossoming on her face.

“So you don't need a doctor...?”

The smile faded into a confused frown, and her head tipped inquisitively.

“It's probably a good idea to let someone else look at her anyways, just in case,” Trevor said casually.

“...you may be right,” Adrian said, getting slowly to his feet.

After a moment he offered her his hand, and she took it, doing her best to stand as well. It was clear from the attempts that it hurt her to do so, and something about that... he didn't like it. But when he moved to pick her up again she shook her head, and gained a stubborn, _set_ look that he recognized almost with a start.

He glanced between the girl and Trevor for a moment, almost appraisingly, but kept his thoughts to himself; just because _he_ thought she looked like Trevor when he was at his most stubborn didn't mean he had to share it.

“Just hold onto my arm,” he said gently. “We'll go into the parlor and eat something, all right?”

She nodded, and even though there was pain in her face, there was trust in her eyes. Feeling oddly touched by the clear faith she had in him, Adrian escorted her into the parlor while Trevor went to tell the servants where they would be eating breakfast today.

-

She eyed the thing on her plate warily; Trevor had called it a sticky bun, and it was shaped like a snail's shell, but when she poked at it experimentally, it was soft. And hot, a thing she'd never before experienced with her food. She was used to fish and maybe some sea plants, cold and raw. What _this_ was....

But they were all eating one as well, and the other things they thought of as food which had been brought to the room Adrian had called a parlor. Nothing looked familiar; where were the fish, where was the seaweed? Did humans _really_ eat this strange thing?

“If you're not hungry, I'll eat it,” Trevor offered, reaching out with the thing Sypha had called a fork.

“Trevor, there's plenty on the platter,” Sypha scolded, frowning at him from where she sat. “You don't need to steal hers.”

He sighed in a dramatic way that made her smile.

“Where's the fun in that, though?~”

Sypha rolled her eyes tolerantly.

“Let her eat in peace,” was the somewhat amused scold. “Just because _you_ have a hollow leg...”

She blinked, and looked at Trevor's legs in surprise. Humans could have hollow legs? His leg didn't _look_ hollow...

Beside her, Adrian chuckled softly.

“Is it too hot?” he asked as she looked up at him. “They have to be glazed right out of the oven, so they're often served before they've had a chance to cool enough to be edible.”

She looked at him for a moment, just savoring the fact that he was speaking to her, then back down at the thing on the plate. Uncertainly, she poked it with her finger, getting a bit of the glazing on her finger. It _was_ hot, and she quickly put her finger in her mouth, then blinked at the taste. She had never tasted something like that before...

Adrian watched with amusement as she tried to figure out how to pick up the still too-hot sticky bun before he offered her the fork. Then he had to hep her figure out how to hold the fork to cut off a piece of the bun. The expression on her face when she finally managed it was almost comical... and unexpectedly cute.

The more he watched her, the more he was convinced that she came from a distant land where the foods were very different, and the eating utensils too. It was the only explanation that made sense, and he couldn't help but wonder just where her home was, even as he helped her try a little bit of everything that had been on offer for breakfast.

When her plate was empty, and she refused further offerings, just leaning against him, he felt... warm, somehow. Relaxed.

“So, before the doctor comes, I have a question,” Sypha said, her voice breaking through the bubble of contentment Adrian had been feeling. “What's your name?”

A prudent question; admittedly one he should have asked himself. It probably should have surprised him when the girl simply shrugged.

“You have to have been called something,” Trevor said with a small frown. “Beyond 'miss' or 'girl', I mean... even the street urchins have names.”

She shook her head a little, and made a small gesture that suggested to Adrian that a name had never been something she'd thought of. He frowned thoughtfully; how could someone go their whole life without a name?

“Nothing?” Sypha pressed. “Not even a surname?”

That just got her a baffled look, and she glanced up at him a little, anxiousness and confusion in her eyes. Gently he stroked her unruly hair and the anxiety became affection, though the confusion remained.

“We'd like to call you something other than miss,” he said. “Do you really not have a name?”

She shook her head again, and he watched the confusion bleed away to something a little more remote. Something that made her look briefly _older_ than the twenty-some years she presented.

Sypha got up and went over to the bookshelf, peering for a moment among the dusty volumes that admittedly were almost never touched. Usually Adrian had more than just a seaside vacation when he was at the manor with his parents and the rest of the court, and reading was a leisure activity that... well, he rarely had the leisure to indulge in.

“What're you doing?” Trevor asked, one eyebrow going up.

“I thought I saw a naming book around here somewhere...” she replied absently. “If she doesn't have one, we'll have to give her one, after all, and not something _silly_.”

“Hey, I would never give a lady a silly name,” Trevor protested. “Silly names are reserved for pets and people I don't like!”

Sypha slanted him an arch look that made Adrian stifle a chuckle. Given the way the girl's shoulders shook, she found it amusing too, and he glanced down to see the smile that lit up her face. This close he could see the smattering of freckles across her cheeks, and caught himself thinking things that were decidedly improper considering they had only just met.

“What about 'Dawn'?” he offered after a moment. “Seeing as the sun was still coming up when we stumbled across you...”

She considered it, tipping her head a little, then made a face. He chuckled a little, and half-shrugged.

“All right, not that, then...”

“Angela?” Trevor offered. “Or what about Delia?”

Both of those were met with a face as well.

“Ecaterina?” was Sypha's contribution as she paged through a book.

Adrian snorted a little as the girl quickly shook her head; he had to agree that the name would have been a mouthful.

“No, it should be something simple,” he said after a moment. “Right? Something easy.”

She considered. Then nodded.

“Eveline,” Trevor said dryly.

“We are _not_ naming her for your somewhat mad grandmother,” Sypha said reprovingly.

“Marina,” Adrian said.

That gave her pause, and she tipped her head slightly, considering. She lifted her hand after a moment, rocking it slightly, which was encouraging; admittedly he didn't want to spend days trying to find the _right_ name, but it did need to be something she would like.

“...what about Marianna?” Sypha said after a moment. “We could call you Anna for short?”

Her head came up a little, and she pointed at Sypha in clear delight.

“Marianna?” A headshake. “Anna, then.”

The girl—Anna—nodded in delight, and bounced a little on the sofa. Adrian glanced over at Trevor, and smiled a little at the expression on his friend's face; suspicious or not, it was hard to _not_ take amusement from the way she had been so clearly pleased, and Trevor's bemused smile was more than proof of that.

A knock at the door made them all look up, and one of the servingmen opened it, bowing politely.

“The doctor is here, highness,” he announced.

“Ah, good. Show him in, please.”

-

Anna did not _like_ the doctor. He poked and prodded, and asked questions she couldn't answer, even after being made aware of the fact that she had no voice with which to speak. When he pushed at her feet, she kicked him, and even though it immediately hurt, it was also pleasing to see him get bowled over.

“Well, there is nothing wrong with her that _I_ can see,” he huffed once he'd been helped back up by Trevor, whom Anna could see was struggling not to laugh. “Short of a full examination, she seems to be in good health, if a bit sensitive in the legs and feet. You found her at a shipwreck, you say?”

He was eyeing her dubiously and she bared her teeth in a snarl; human teeth were flat and unthreatening for the most part, but it seemed to unnerve the man anyways, which pleased her.

“Yes,” Adrian replied, putting a light hand on her shoulder. “Though there was no one else among the wreckage that we could see.”

She leaned back against him, calming with his touch. She was glad that none of them had left the room while the doctor had done his best to examine her; alone she wouldn't have let this strange human _touch_ her. Something about him just didn't feel right, even if he _was_ the human version of a mender.

“Hmph. Well, last night's storm isn't one I'd wish on anyone. It may be that there's some damage to the spine that's causing the pain in her legs and feet, but that...” the doctor shrugged a little. “We cannot do much about that.”

“Thank you for your time,” Adrian said politely. “We won't keep you further, sir.”

The doctor harumphed a little more, collected the bag of things he'd used to examine Anna, and left the parlor at a brisk walk. Once the door was closed again, both Sypha and Trevor started laughing.

“He definitely wasn't expecting to be knocked over,” Trevor managed after a moment. “Did you see his face?”

“Generally speaking that's _not_ how to treat doctors,” Adrian said... but when she looked up at him, he seemed to be fighting a smile of his own. “....but that certainly was an emphatic was to register a complaint.”

Anna huffed a little, folding her arms across her chest and looked away. Gently, Adrian's hand squeezed her shoulder.

“S-so,” and Sypha wiped a bit of moisture from her eyes as she got her giggles under control. “What do we do now?”

Anna looked at the three of them, as the question seemed to sober them all. What more was there to do?

“Well, it's clear enough you're not a local,” Adrian said after a moment, glancing down at her. “Do you have a family to go back to?”

She shook her head, offering a small shrug. Her family had been Atissa, inasmuch as she understood the term, and there was no going back to that life.

“If word got out that there's a healer, I'm sure _someone_ would be willing to hire you,” Sypha said after a moment. “Healers are rare, even among my own people.”

“That's true. You could set up a little practice easily enough...” Trevor said. “Wouldn't take long to go from a street stall to a house, I bet.”

Anna looked at them, uncertainly shrinking back against Adrian; she wasn't sure what they were talking about, and at the moment, all she wanted to do was be at the side of the human she had saved. Besides, her magic was weak, and she didn't want to spend it on other humans.

“That's something to leave for later,” Adrian said firmly. “When she's more recovered from the wreck.”

Sypha and Trevor exchanged a look, but after a moment Sypha shrugged lightly.

“In that case, we should probably start cosmetic,” she said. “A bath and some properly tailored clothes wouldn't go amiss. We can fix up your hair too, it's lovely, but... well...”

Anna raised a hand and touched her hair uncertainly; underwater her hair had been easy enough to manage, but dried it was a mass of coils and curls, and the ribbons Sypha had used to tie it back were only just barely doing the job.

“Don't worry, I don't think we'll need to cut too much of it,” she said reassuringly. “But it would be easier to deal with properly washed and brushed.”

The words made only a little sense, but when she glanced up at Adrian he gave her an encouraging smile.

“I'll get the servants started on heating the water for a proper bath,” he said, “and we can go from there. All right?”

That made her blink. They _heated_ water? What in the name of the tides was the point of _that_?

-

“You're not really thinking of bringing her back to the _palace,_ are you?” Trevor asked cautiously as he walked down the hall with Adrian. “I mean, I doubt their majesties would protest, but the rest of the court might take issue...”

“I was more hoping Sypha would be willing to give her space,” Adrian admitted after a moment. “I can't simply do _nothing_, Trevor. She _has_ nothing. She didn't even have a _name_.”

“I know that, and I'm not saying we do nothing, just...” Trevor sighed a little. “You need to be careful is all. Have you ever seen her before that you can remember? I mean,” and he grinned briefly, “you're a handsome bastard and all, so you get all the ladies, but still. The way she's acting...”

Adrian frowned a little, considering. Brought up the memory of that flash of copper skin and auburn hair and tried to compare it to the young woman he'd just spent the better part of three hours in company with.

“....I don't know,” he finally said. “It may simply be that we rescued her and she wants to cling to the first friendly faces she's found.”

“So then, what are we going to do now?” Trevor asked as Adrian entered the study and made for the desk. “If you're so bound and determined to help her and all.”

“Well, first I'm going to send a message to my parents about her, since well be leaving in a couple of days. I don't want to surprise them if I can avoid it. After, I'll talk to Sypha about letting her use Sypha's spare room; I'll pay Anna's expenses so that neither of them have to worry about it.”

“Sypha would probably let her stay for free, you know. She's got that big family always rotating in and out...” Trevor pointed out.

“Well, I'll feel better about Sypha indulging my whims if I can contribute,” Adrian replied wryly as he wrote. “Given the tone of some of the ladies at court, it'll be safer for Anna to be outside the palace walls.”

“And give you more reasons to leave them.”

Adrian shrugged lightly and dipped the pen again; while most of the ladies in his parents court were the sort that could be helpful, even kind in their own way, he didn't doubt that his attention to Anna would make more than one person jealous. And one never really knew how jealously would make a person act.

It gave him pause for a moment to realize that he _did_ want to spend a lot of time at Anna's side, despite barely knowing her, and he made a mental note to check for a fascination charm at some point. They weren't _technically_ illegal, but they had a tendency to become rather difficult if left unchecked.

“As if you don't abscond every chance you get,” he replied dryly, blotting the letter with care. “You're in the city more than on palace grounds, running all of Sypha's errands without a second thought.”

Trevor flushed a little, and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“...you sure you're... okay with things?” he asked after a minute. “Me proposing to Sypha, I mean.”

“I think that if you don't propose, she might turn convention on its head and do it herself,” Adrian said with a wry smile as he folded the paper up and found and envelope. “Which could be quite amusing, all things considered. It would make an interesting story to tell your future children.”

“Adrian...”

He chuckled slightly and stood, then leaned in and gave Trevor a small, fond kiss.

“Things will always change,” he said softly. “But I value the friendship of you both too much to demand that you _not_ do this. It will make you, and her, happy. Besides,” and he straightened, going over to grab the wax-melter for the seal, “I do believe I keep being told that the only thing that might change is the fact that you will be husband and wife.”

“...well, _yeah_...”

There was a 'but' under Trevor's words, a concern that the other man was trying to address... but Trevor had never been very _good_ with words, and Adrian was not above capitalizing on this fact to avoid the subject of how he would truly feel to have Sypha married to his best friend.

He melted and poured the wax, sealing the envelop with his signet ring, then set it briefly on the desk.

“In that case, there seems to be nothing I ought to worry about.”

And maybe if he got lucky, helping to plan Trevor's wedding might keep some of those oh-so-hopeful court maidens off his back.

-

Warm water, Anna decided, was really quite nice, even if she didn't understand the need for all the things Sypha had added to the bath. The bubbles were fun to play with, but the scrubbing and the washing and rinsing of hair had been strange. Nice to have someone else's hands in her hair, but strange.

Stranger still was the way Sypha had taken an item she called a brush and started trying to remove the snarls in Anna's hair.

“Have you _ever_ brushed your hair?” the other woman asked as Anna picked up a handful of the iridescent bubbles and blew gently. “It looks like rats have made nests in it!”

She tipped her head back, briefly giving Sypha a blank look. It was kind of funny how the humans kept asking her questions, despite knowing that she couldn't actually _answer_ them. Oh, she could answer simple ones with shrugs, nods, or head shakes, but they couldn't _all_ be questions like that...

Sypha sighed a little, and continued to tug at the waterlogged hair; Anna let her, quite happy to stay in the warm water until there wasn't any other choice. Even if Sypha's pulling _did_ hurt a bit, in comparison to how it felt to walk, a bit of pulled hair was nothing.

“It's just going to keep tangling if you don't tie it up properly,” Sypha said after a few minutes. “Doesn't that bother you?”

Anna shrugged, and scooped up another handful of the bubbles. She could tie it back well enough, even if it did insist on being all coily and sproingy when dry, so she wasn't sure what Sypha meant by 'properly'.

Silence fell again, and Anna found herself yawning a little at the steady tugging of the brush through her hair. Despite the knots, Sypha seemed like she was being as gentle as was possible, and there was something oddly _soothing_ about the way it felt.

“...you should probably get out before you fall asleep and drown,” she said after a moment, amusement in her voice. “Adrian would be a bit put out if he found that you'd done that.”

Anna thought about it, shrugged, and slid down a bit more into the metal tub. It was a bit funny that _now_ she was having regrets and second thoughts about this decision to become human. She hadn't expected the pain, or the way everything would feel so different above the waves. So _heavy_, so very different from the comforting weightlessness of being in the water.

“Well, all right. But you can't stay in there forever. The water will get cold, and we need to get you some clothes of your own so that you're not borrowing from me.”

Anna lifted her head a little and glanced over at the small folded up pile; mostly at the jacket Adrian had wrapped her up in; it was big, but she liked it.... would she have to give it back?

It surprised her how frustrating it was to not have a voice. What she could say, what she could _ask_ if she could speak... After a moment she sighed, drawing her knees up to her chest, though she was careful to keep her feet from touching the bottom. It was plain enough that walking was going to remain her most difficult trial... perhaps if she walked around a lot she could get used to the pain, enough so that walking with him wouldn't...

A knock on the door made her sit up in surprise.

“No one's drowned in there, have they?”

It was Trevor's voice, though muffled by the thick wood. Sypha laughed.

“No, but someone's still bathing, so you can't come in. What do you want?”

“Adrian's sending a note to his folks about our new friend, and wanted to know if she wanted to go to a seamstress, or have one come to us?”

Sypha looked at Anna, who blinked at the unfamiliar term, then shrugged.

“Do you think you can walk that far? It's a good way into town...”

Anna thought for a moment. Looked at her legs half-hidden by the bubbles. Then nodded. She wasn't going to know without trying, and she had the sense that she wasn't going to be at the seaside much longer.

“We'll go to a seamstress,” Sypha called back. “Anna's willing to try, at least.” Then she lowered her voice and smiled a bit. It was a friendly smile, a teasing one. “That does mean you'll have to get out of the water, though.”

She gave a put upon sigh that—as she'd hoped—made Sypha giggle, and reluctantly put her feet to the bottom of the tub. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she gripped the rim and stood. It hit like a stinging jellyfish and she hissed a little, trying not to fall back into the water.

“Easy now,” Sypha said, quickly getting up to help. “You don't have to force anything, it's all right if we-”

Anna shook her head a little, and climbed out of the tub.

-

It was actually rather cute that she was still wearing his jacket. It wasn't like he needed the garment anyways, proper attire or not; with the sun well up, the day had grown hot, even with the constant breeze from the sea to wash over them. That she was wearing it anyways was... oddly touching.

She glanced up at him, and Adrian offered her a smile, unable to help himself. There was just... _something_ about her that made him want to trust her, protect her. True, there was still a chance for it to be a fascination charm, but he half-suspected there was no magic at work here beyond physical attraction. He could hardly deny that she _was_ attractive, and there was something _different_ about the way she looked at him, compared to the other ladies of the court that tried to flirt.

Anna responded to his smile by smiling shyly back, then resting her head on his arm. Only the tight way she clung to said arm and the hesitant way she was walking suggested that she wasn't feeling nearly as well as she looked.

Admittedly, they had been out walking for quite some time... Between the tailor, the shoemaker, the hairdresser Sypha had tracked down, and now looking for a meal, even Trevor was starting to look fatigued. The fact that she seemed to be in pain with every step only meant that she was better at _hiding_ her fatigue.

But he rather thought it had been worth it; Anna was now wearing clothes that were better fitted to her frame, and had a few more besides. He would find a way to get her more once they returned to Braila, but these things would do for now, and it had been admittedly _cute_ the way she'd twirled a bit in the shop, and watched the skirt with unfeigned delight as it wrapped around her legs. He was a little disappointed that the shoes she'd agreed to didn't seem to be helping any with the pain, but watching her occasionally peer at them as she walked, as though she kept being surprised that they were there, made him want to chuckle.

The hairdresser Sypha had found had been the most contentious stop yet; while Adrian had been hesitant to call Anna's hair impossibly long, it... well, it rather had been. It was impressive, to be certain—he'd seen some ladies of the court with hair down to their knees, but most of them were near to his mother's age, not his own—but not necessarily manageable for one person. It had been Sypha who'd coaxed her into the chair, but it had taken all three of them to convince her that letting the hairdresser take scissors to her locks wasn't a bad thing.

Her hair was still long and impossibly coily, but now it hung to her waist, and hopefully would be simpler to manage. How would she arrange it, he wondered, now that she didn't have to fight with the length of it? _Would_ she arrange it, or would Sypha's choice of ribbons to tie it back be how she kept it?

“We're almost there,” Sypha said, tugging at Trevor's arm. Of the four of them, she still had energy to burn and Adrian half-heartedly wished she could share it out. “It's just down here, I promise.”

“That's what you said two streets ago,” Trevor complained, though he didn't try to get his arm out of her grasp. “And then three more turns before that...”

“It's not _my_ fault that the eatery moved,” she said primly. “You'll like it!”

“Well, if it's a place to sit down for a bit, I'm not opposed,” Adrian said, smiling a bit wearily. “Even after sending the servants back with all the other purchases we've made, we've done quite a bit of walking around.”

He glanced down in time to catch the sympathetic look Anna gave him, and lowered his voice slightly.

“Are you doing all right? If you're too tired, we can always hire a carriage back to the manor...”

She looked speculative for a moment, then shook her head and motioned towards Sypha.

“You want to keep up with her?”

A nod. Adrian chuckled a little, patting her hands gently with his free one.

“Good luck with that. I don't think _anyone_ can keep up with Sypha when she truly gets going.”

“I _heard_ that!”

One of Anna's hands came up to cover her mouth as she laughed silently, and Adrian grinned a little at Sypha.

“You can't tell me it's not true,” he teased as they caught up at the entrance to a middle-class dining establishment. “Your magic ensures you have a readily available stock of energy at all times.~”

Sypha stuck out her tongue as Trevor snickered a little in agreement.

“It's hardly _my_ fault if you two get run ragged by a few simple errands,” she sniffed a little, a tiny smile on her face. “And wasn't it your idea to keep going after lunch?”

Trevor made a slight face as they headed in and found a somewhat shadowy, comfortable corner to sit in. Adrian took the most protected spot, though he kept Anna close, while Sypha and Trevor sat to either side protectively.

Anna lifted her hand slightly, even as she settled on the bench, responding to Sypha's teasing query.

“Well, all right, yes, you didn't say _no_, but that's not the point,” Sypha replied. “_Adrian_ was the one who thought we ought to keep going if you felt capable of it.”

“...I think she's saying that _is_ the point,” Adrian said after a moment, when Anna's hand didn't fall. “She was the one who indicated we should keep going.”

Anna nodded and smiled up at him shyly.

“Well, after this, I think we head back,” Trevor said, shaking his head a little. “I'm ready to go to bed...”

“In all manners of the word?” Sypha asked, a teasing smile on her face.

“....I could be convinced to put off sleep for a bit~”

Adrian rolled his eyes in tolerant amusement, looking up as the barmaid came over to see what they wanted to eat.

-

She was tired, but sleep was being oddly elusive. That wasn't how it was supposed to be; she was tired, she slept, that was the nature of things.

But this bed was too soft, and the blankets too smothering. It was too _large!_ She missed her hammock that swayed with the movement of the water, and not being confined in a nightgown. She didn't need to sprawl out over something that sank with her every move, she wanted something... smaller. More soothing than this.

Ann heaved a tired sigh and eased herself to the edge of the bed, then set her feet on the floor with a soft hiss. Even prepared for it, the pain was still as sharp and as fresh as if it was her first time standing. But she gritted her teeth and stood anyways, wrapping up once more in Adrian's jacket instead of the item Sypha had called a dressing gown, before taking slow, shuffling steps towards the door.

It had been a day full of new things, so logically she should have been easily able to convince herself to rest. The pain drained away her useful energy at an alarming speed, and yet here she was. Unable to rest.

Maybe she could creep down to sit on the beach, and come back before the sun rose; it wouldn't be the same as sleeping beneath the waves, but having the sound of them closer couldn't hurt, could it? As long as no one caught her out...

A door near the end of the hall was open, soft light spilling out, and she hesitated, then went to peer in; It looked similar to the parlor downstairs—Anna was not looking forward to easing down those stairs one at a time, she most certainly was _not—_with many shelves filled with books, a handful of padded chairs, and a long couch. There was a tall table at the far end near an open window—she could see the curtains billowing softly with the sea breeze—that had several bits and bobs on it that she didn't recognize.

The light was coming from the fireplace, as well as several lit lamps, backed by some shiny metal that made them brighter. It was a far cry from the cooler light of the sea crystals used in the caverns, and if not for the fact that Adrian was sitting on the long couch with one of those books in his hands, she might have backed away from the room.

Instead she gingerly pushed the door open a little more and stepped in. He looked... different like this, she decided after a moment. His long hair was loose now, and his clothing more billowy, more... _relaxed_. He held the book loosely in one hand, and she tipped her head curiously; were books magic that told you things, was that why he was staring at it so intently?

He looked up after a moment, and jumped slightly; startled by his reaction, she froze, then uncertainly started to back up. Maybe she wasn't supposed to be here, wasn't supposed to see this.

“No, it's all right,” he said after a moment. “I didn't hear you come in; are you okay?”

He put a thin piece of wood in the book and set it aside, then got to his feet, and beckoned to her. Timidly Anna obeyed, crossing the room tentatively until she was standing close to him. After a moment she nodded; she wasn't hurting, not in a way that could be fixed, she just... couldn't sleep.

“I imagine your head must be spinning after everything you've been through,” he said after a moment, offering her his hand. She took it without question, and when he sat down again, she did too. “I suppose sleep would either come easily or hard after such a day.”

She nodded, and leaned her head against his shoulder. He'd seemed to like that during the day when they'd been walking around, and _she_ liked being in as much contact with him as he would let her. Something about it was just... relaxing. After a moment though, she lifted her head and nudged at him gently. She knew why _she_ was awake, but why was he?

“Hm? Oh, well...” Adrian smiled faintly, a little sadly. “I thought perhaps I'd take some time to myself, and let Trevor and Sypha have some time to themselves as well. No, no,” and he put his free hand quickly over hers when she sat up. “You don't need to leave. It's all right.”

Anna looked at him uncertainly, then reached up and touched his cheek lightly. He looked sad somehow, and she didn't want him to be sad...

He brought his hand up to wrap lightly around hers, and the smile he gave was softer. Warmer somehow.

“I think your company would be quite welcome right now, really,” he said quietly. “I wasn't really paying much attention to the book anyways.”

She looked at the object in question as he lowered their hands down to his lap, and tipped her head curiously. He had to pay attention to it?

“Do you read?”

Anna blinked up at him and raised an eyebrow in confusion. He chuckled slightly, and released her hands, then reached out and picked up the book, handing it to her. She opened it the way he had, and looked down at it curiously, head tipping slightly as she puzzled over what there was inside. She _had_ seen books before, in her forays to freshly sunken ships, but usually only the covers could last underwater. Whatever they were made of didn't take submersion well, and she turned the pages gingerly; she was used to such things shredding her her hands, but out of the water they seemed solid enough. And the marks on them were dark and crisp, though what they meant...

She looked up at him with a puzzled frown and pointed at the pages.

“It's a story,” he said. “A fairytale. I used to enjoy them when I was younger and thought it couldn't hurt to see if I still did... reading philosophy and scholars can get tedious after a time. This one is about a young lady who is made a servant by her step-mother, and is helped by the spirit of her mother to marry a prince. Would you like to hear it?”

She nodded, and something in his soft smile made her feel warm; it wasn't quite the same warmth as rescuing him, healing him, had been, but there was something comforting about it. The loneliness seemed to have left his eyes, and she was quick to rest her head against his shoulder again as he flipped back through the pages to the start of the book.

“Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a young maiden whose father had recently remarried...”

-

She was asleep before he'd gotten halfway through the story, and Adrian closed the book softly to avoid disturbing her. It certainly wouldn't be the first time he'd fallen asleep on this couch, though usually he was more stretched out than this. Tempting to stretch out now, to tuck her between himself and the back of the couch so that she was safe and protected... or to coax her into laying on him, maybe, like she was a small, serviceable blanket.

Adrian shook his head slightly; too many ways for that to get both of them in trouble, really. While he was technically above reproach as the crown prince, that didn't mean intimate cuddling wouldn't hurt Trevor or Sypha. Trevor especially was suspicious of how neatly Anna had turned up after the storm, uninjured by the boat wreck, and lacking any easy means of communication.

He could hardly blame Trevor; it _was_ suspicious. But at the same time, looking down at that curly head, he couldn't bring himself to believe that she was part of some kind of murderous plot. She had walked for hours, and basically done everything they'd asked of her that day, despite the clear fact that walking caused her pain.

Perhaps his mother, an excellent doctor herself, could take a closer look than the man they'd brought that morning. It always seemed to go easier when it was women looking after women, and... well, he wanted his mother to meet her. His father too, but he knew full well that Vlad tended to be intimidating at first to anyone who hadn't seen the way he doted on Lisa. He was a good, stern king for Wallachia, but in private, around his mother...

Adrian smiled a little. He had a few days before he would get back to that, at least, and could prepare his arguments accordingly. He wondered who would understand better, father or mother, when he told them about how he wanted to protect her until she was able to fend for herself. It was not, he knew, the done thing; Anna certainly looked contemporary to him, and by all logic he should simply outfit her with a new ship, or find out where she was from and return her there.

But the idea was somehow repellent. Not even a day, and yet he was having trouble picturing her anywhere but with him.

He lifted a hand and tucked some of her curls back behind her ear, letting his fingers trail over the smattering of freckles on her light brown cheeks. Asking Sypha to put her up was the logical choice, and Trevor was right in that it would get him out of the palace more often... already Adrian was dreaming up reasons he would need to go into the city, to visit Sypha's shop so that he could see Anna, or bringing Anna and Sypha to the palace so that he could see how she might suit it.

But the idea of her staying in a guest room of the palace was tempting too. A small, discreet suite next to the river, maybe...

She shifted slightly, and he caught her before she could slip too far, easing Anna down until she was half-sprawled over his lap, effectively trapping him on the couch. It amused him to realize that she was absolutely asleep now; she hadn't even reacted when he'd touched her, and from what he'd gleaned during the day, she couldn't _not_ react to even the lightest hint of a touch. It would be child's play to take her back up to her room, tuck her in, then go and see if Trevor and Sypha had worn themselves out so that he could join them in sleep...

But he didn't move, other than to gently make her a bit more comfortable, and drape the blanket that had been on the back of the couch over her. He could survive a night sitting up on the couch if it meant she slept peacefully.

And somehow, between one thought and the next, he fell asleep as well.

-

“It's all right,” Sypha said, squeezing her hands gently. “We talked about this, remember? This isn't home, this is where Adrian and his family come to get away during the hottest of the summer months. This wasn't meant to be a long trip, just long enough to help Adrian relax some, and now it's time for us to go back to Braila so we can get back to work.”

Anna couldn't _help_ but feel anxious as she watched the servants packing up the limited clothing she'd been given, clinging absently to Sypha's hands. Yes, she remembered it being mentioned a couple of times, but never really in relation to _her._ On the one hand, the fact that they weren't leaving her behind was gratifying; there were still too many human things she didn't understand, to many human customs she didn't know. If they'd left without her, she would have tried to follow, admittedly, so going with them was _prudent_, but... at the same time the idea of being away from the sea where she had lived her whole life, where she could look across the blue water and remember the caverns of her teacher, Atissa...

“Everything all right in here?” Trevor asked, poking his head into the room. He still hadn't quite warmed to her, though he certainly treated her politely. Whether he may or may not like her was still obviously in question, but she _thought_ he might be warming up a little. Maybe.

“We're all right, Trevor,” Sypha said, smiling at him. “I think she's just nervous about what's coming next. This _has_ been all she's known for the past week, and all...”

“Ah, well, we were supposed to be all packed up yesterday, but there was that festival thing, and we kind of lost track of time, so we're definitely getting a late start...” Trevor shrugged lightly, leaning on the frame of the door. “The coach is ready, so we should probably get moving before Adrian decides he wants to stay another day for her.”

“Trevor, don't pick on her when she can't pick back,” Sypha scolded, leading Anna towards the door. “It's hardly her fault Adrian decided to stay a few days more.”

Trevor's expression suggested that he didn't necessarily believe that, and Anna herself would have admitted that it probably _was_, if she'd had the voice to say it. When he'd mentioned leaving, she'd been afraid to be left behind, and Adrian had soothed her by promising a few more days. It hadn't been until he'd said she would be coming with, however, that she'd actually felt _calm_ about the event.

And of course, actually seeing her things go into a trunk made her feel uneasy. Because she was going with them, yes, but _where_ with them? Where would she be put at the end of this journey? She didn't want to be anywhere but with Adrian, though... humans seemed to have some strange ideas about people sleeping in the same space together. She didn't see why she couldn't sleep in the same room as him, especially since it made sleeping feel much less lonely...

She offered Trevor a timid, apologetic shrug and slipped past him into the hallway, almost running into Adrian who looked... eager, and had plainly come to find them.

“Ah ha. Are we having some trouble?” he asked, his tone gently amused. “I told you we'd be leaving soon, Anna... didn't you believe me?”

She flushed a little and looked down at the floor, then startled as Sypha put an arm around her.

“You don't get to tease her either,” the taller woman said with a small frown. “Of course she's unnerved by what's going on, Adrian, you didn't explain it very well at all last night.”

“Ah, I apologize,” and he offered Anna his hand which she took eagerly. He put his other hand over hers and squeezed gently. “Admittedly, last night is rather... _fuzzy_. How much wine was passed around again?”

Sypha shook her head a little, and Anna shuffled a bit; she hadn't much liked the taste of the wine or beer that the two men had been drinking for the previous evening's festival event, and had liked even less how they'd both staggered around, slurring their conversation. The dancing had been nice, pain aside, but the rest...

“More than enough, and you're both lucky I was nice enough to get you water before you went to bed,” Sypha said tartly.

Anna looked away briefly, somewhat sheepishly; she wasn't going to admit that she'd crept into their rooms after they were all asleep and let a breath of healing whisk away the worst of the affects of the festivities.

“Yes, we are very lucky you look after us,” Trevor drawled, draping an arm around Sypha's shoulder and hugging her. “Shall we get moving, then?”

“There's breakfast waiting in the coach, so I'm certainly of the opinion that we ought to leave now,” Adrian said with a small nod, tucking an arm loosely around Anna's waist. “I'd like to reach an inn before nightfall so that we're not camping out, really, but that may be a risk we take.”

“Remind me again how you managed to get all the way out here with just us and only a few servants?” Trevor asked as they headed for the stairs down.

“Much prevailing on my mother's part,” Adrian replied dryly, slipping his hand under Anna's arm to help her take the stairs at a more regular pace. She still didn't like them, and had a tendency to rush and fall so that she didn't have to spend time on them. “Also the fact that I was supposed to be traveling incognito to recover my health.”

“Which is why you two raced horses most of the way,” Sypha teased, shaking her head a little.

“Well, you have to admit, coming here to relax instead of shifting the court to the seaside and continuing to work does make all the difference,” Adrian replied with a small grin.

Anna listened to the banter as she navigated the stairs, smiling a little nervously; she'd met the horses stabled out back, but had been unwilling to get one one on her own; they were taller than she was, broader, and fidgety. Adrian had managed to coax her to ride one, but she hadn't been able to stay on too long before she'd wanted down. Riding _with_ one of them hadn't been so bad; being able to hang on and hide her face had been better than trying to convince this strange creature that looked only a _little_ like the seahorses she'd played with under the water that it wanted to go where she tugged.

The idea that Adrian and Trevor not only rode them, but made them go at a faster pace than a walk... no, she didn't much like that at _all. _Fortunately, they didn't seem to expect her to ride; if she had to hazard a guess, she thought Adrian preferred her riding with him to any other state, and she wasn't inclined to disagree.

The coach was big enough for six; it mostly meant that there was plenty of room for all of them, the food, and some extra to stretch out. Once they were all in and settled, Adrian tapped the roof and they were off.

-

It had been a long while since coach or carriage rides had been quite as entertaining, but Adrian found that watching Anna as they moved from the city to the country was worth quite a bit of amusement. It was as though everything was new to her, and more than once one of them had to stop her from leaning half out of the coach window to try and get a better look as they passed something by.

She was sitting in the sunshine now, half-awake as they waited for the horses to be finished changing after they had stopped for lunch, and he was already looking forward to seeing just how much more interested in everything she would get as they continued to travel further inland.

“So, question,” Trevor murmured, leaning against him lightly. “On the way down it was easy enough for all three of us to share a room, and fun too. How's it going to work now?”

“We'll have to get two rooms,” Adrian replied, his voice just as soft. “It's not like you and Sypha won't be able to have some time if you'd like in the mornings...”

“..look, I'm just going to come straight out and say it; are you _sure_ you're not upset with me about something?” Trevor said. “Because you've been avoiding the bedroom until we're both passed out, and Sypha's getting worried too.”

“I've been...” Adrian glanced over at Anna, who was listening intently to something Sypha was saying, then sighed slightly. “No, Trevor, I'm not upset with you, or Sypha, and I'm not saying I don't want to be with either of you further, but.. Something about her, about this whole situation, makes me want to tread carefully for a bit. That's all. I _like_ her...”

Trevor snorted a little, then sighed.

“I still think you're giving her too much trust,” he grumbled a little. “We don't know where she came from, and she can't... read or write.”

“That's not exactly surprising,” Adrian pointed out with tolerant good humor. “It may be that she's never needed to, and even if she understands us that doesn't necessarily mean our language and hers are the same. She tries to tell us what she can, it's not her fault we don't understand. And..” he sighed a little, and glanced at Anna again, catching a moment when she glanced at him. The way her eyes lit up made him smile a little. “I don't know, Trevor... She looks at me with adulation, yes, but it's not based on.... avarice, or what I can _give_ her. Every gift I give is met with awe, and you've _seen_ her refusing the more extravagant ones.”

Trevor grimaced a little, but nodded reluctantly. Adrian had seen a necklace in a jeweler's window that he'd thought would suit Anna perfectly, so he'd bought it and tried to give it to her; she had looked at it, then at him, and pushed it back firmly. It had surprised him; he'd actually expected she'd not only take it, but ask for more, as was often the way of ladies and jewelry—at least, as far as the ladies of the court went, anyways.

“Everyone has their point for not wanting more charity,” Trevor said after a moment, frowning a little in concern. “But what if she wants more than you can give, Adrian?”

“My father won't try and insist I settle on any one lady at this point, and neither will my mother,” Adrian said patiently. “There's no great concern over an alliance, or worry about alienating the court, why do you think I get to be with you and Sypha?”

“Because I'm devilishly handsome and charming,” Trevor replied promptly, making Adrian laugh softly.

“Well, you're certainly _something_,” Adrian said dryly. “The point is, Trevor, I still want to be with you and Sypha. I have no doubts about that. But... I'd like, I think, to be with Anna too. And given your reservations on her, I'm not going to try and force her on you.”

“....Sypha's pretty taken with her too,” Trevor admitted with a small sigh.

Adrian blinked, then slung an arm around Trevor's shoulders.

“You, my friend, need to make a suitably dramatic and romantic proposal,” he said.

“Wh-ack, gettoff! I do not!”

“Of course you do~” Adrian grinned a little, though he let Trevor shove him off. “We can't send anyone on ahead of us, and to be fair, I think Sypha might murder you if you made it _too_ public, but there's several good places to stop on the way home that would be romantic enough to satiate her, and once you finally _ask_, you might worry about it a bit less.”

“I'm not worried!”

“Really?” Adrian raised an eyebrow.

Trevor flushed a little and looked away.

“Fine, maybe a little,” he grumbled. “But it's not like I can do anything until I talk to her grandfather about it...”

“You know she'll say yes _and_ talk her family around,” Adrian pointed out, gentling his tone a bit. “All you need to do is ask. In a... suitably romantic spot, if you don't want her annoyed with you.”

Trevor scoffed a little, though he looked a bit... uncertain to Adrian's eyes. Lightly he patted his friend and lover on the back.

“Stop worrying about _me_ for a moment, and go for your own happiness,” he said fondly. “Yours and hers.”

“...because you'll keep pestering me if I don't?” Trevor asked dryly.

“No, because I really do think if you don't ask her, _she'll_ ask you. And if _that_ happens I'd dearly love to watch.”

Trevor shoved him gently, and Adrian snickered, shoving back.

“You both look very serious,” Sypha said as she approached, Anna trailing haltingly behind. “Do I _want_ to know what's being discussed?”

“Oh it's-”

“Nothing!” Trevor said, clamping a hand over Adrian's mouth and glaring a little. “Just talk. What's up?”

Sypha eyed them both suspiciously as Adrian rolled his eyes in amusement and shoved Trevor gently off of him. Anna's worried look faded when he gave her a wink, getting to his feet, then offered her his arm. It was honestly adorable the way she lit up and happily wrapped her arms around his.

“Well, the horses are changed, we've eaten and stretched our legs, so I was thinking we should probably leave soon if we want to reach the next town before nightfall,” Sypha replied as Trevor also got to his feet.

“Sounds like a plan to me. Let's get on with it.”

-

The week passed with minor fanfare, and even something akin to routine. Anna wasn't entirely sure she _liked_ the routine; after the first couple of days in the coach, it did get rather dull, and unlike the other three, she couldn't make sense of the words in the books. Granted, Trevor seemed more inclined to nap than to read, but she wanted to know what words meant, and how to shape them.

The coach was not, however, the best place to learn. The way it rocked on stone or on dirt made her feel a bit queasy; it wasn't anything like as regular as the waves, and trying to puzzle over letters on the move usually ended in abject misery and failure.

Fortunately, both Sypha and Adrian were patient, and didn't seem to mind much taking turns reading aloud. Even if she didn't always understand what the words _meant_, listening to them was relaxing.

Sharing a room with Sypha wasn't terrible, but Anna could tell that no one was really happy with the arrangement. She wasn't sure why they insisted on keeping with it, and she didn't know how to indicate the want to know. What was wrong with all four of them being in the same space to sleep? Sleep was much more elusive without Adrian's shoulder to lean upon, and she found that she was napping more in the coach as opposed to sleeping in the bed. Since he didn't seem to mind it, she kept doing it.

Admittedly, there had been a couple mornings where she had woken up to Sypha coming back _in_ to the rented room, looking content in a way that Anna didn't quite understand. She _almost_ understood the banter about Trevor asking Sypha to marry him, she _almost_ understood what was going on, but without a voice there was no easy way to ask for clarification, no way to ease the subtle worries that perhaps she was just too late and Adrian's heart was already committed in a way that was more complicated than she understood. The fact that she could wake up at all, was still human meant that there was still a _chance..._ but she wondered, a little, if she was being at all fair.

If she was pushing Adrian away from Trevor and Sypha just so _she_ could stay human, stay with him, maybe it would be better to turn to foam...

Anna did her best to not dwell on those thoughts; instead she let her mind play with other questions when she became too unsettled. What would it be like to live in a palace? What even _was_ a palace? Would it be bigger than the manor by the sea, or would it be more like the inns they were overnighting at? From what she'd gleaned by listening, there were certainly going to be a lot of _people_, but there were a lot of people everywhere they went, so she wasn't entirely sure that there was much of a comparison she could properly make.

They were a day out from Braila when the question was finally brought up in a way that she could participate in.

“Are we going to my home first, or the palace?” Sypha asked as they sat in the common room of the inn, waiting for their dinners to be served.

“I was thinking we'd set you and Anna at your place, with all your belongings,” Adrian replied, stifling a yawn; they had gotten up before dawn to make up for time lost to a washed out road the day before, and it wasn't hard to see that he was quite ready to eat and fall into bed. “Let her settle into your extra room and be introduced to your family.”

Anna blinked and stared at him for a moment, then at Sypha, who nodded a little. When had this been talked about, and why hadn't _she_ been asked? She patted the table lightly, then pointed at herself with a frown.

“Hey, if you don't want to go to Sypha's, I will,” Trevor said with a small grin. “The palace is noisy and confusing at the best of times, it's going to be way worse when people figure out Adrian's come back.”

Anna shook her head a little, and hit the table slightly harder.

“...Adrian, didn't you ask _her_ if she wanted to stay with me?” Sypha asked after a moment, a thoughtful frown crossing her face.

“Ah... I thought I did..? I mentioned it didn't I?”

She shook her head again, and Adrian looked surprised, then a bit sheepish. Trevor snickered a little, patting his friend on the shoulder and shaking his head in mock sympathy.

“Now you're in for it,” he said cheerfully. “And here you are, always telling _me_ I need to ask the lady first.~”

“I don't mind you staying with me,” Sypha said, shooting a frown at both young men. “We do have a spare room in the apartment above the shop my family runs. Somehow. You'd have to put up with my family though, and admittedly, there's a lot of us in a fairly small space. Which can make it a bit difficult to get privacy.”

Anna tipped her head uncertainly, then looked at Adrian. He sighed a little raising his hands lightly.

“I'm not opposed if you want a guest suite at the castle,” she said with a small, rueful smile. “I can think of several that would suit you, I just didn't think you'd find living there to be comfortable. I know the only reason Trevor does it is because he's not yet married Syp-”

Trevor threw a small roll of bread at Adrian, who ducked with a grin. Sypha was stifling snickers as Anna ducked her head to hide her own smile.

“Will you stop that?!” the brown haired man said in exasperation. “I swear....”

“Yes, you most certainly do,” Sypha teased. “But that's a discussion to have another time.” and she glanced pointedly at Anna. “Either way, you're going to be dealing with a lot of new people; my family is boisterous and loud, and prone to getting into every detail about you they can, even when they should leave well enough alone. The palace...”

“The people at the palace are _also_ going to want to know everything about you,” Trevor said after a moment. “But they're not necessarily going to be _nice_ about it. Plus, you'll probably have to get more clothes, fancier ones...”

Anna looked at Sypha and Trevor, then at Adrian. He still looked a bit embarrassed at having forgotten to ask her what she wanted, if she was reading his expression right... but there also seemed to be some hope in his face. Did he want her to stay with him at the palace, or did he want her to stay with Sypha in the city?

What did _she_ want?

She hesitated a moment, then pointed at him.

“...you want to stay at the palace?”

Anna frowned a little, then pointed at him more emphatically.

“I think she's trying to say she wants to stay with you,” Sypha said after a moment, amusement lacing her voice.

Anna nodded firmly; it was undoubtedly selfish of her to want to have the bulk of his attention, but she also didn't exactly _want_ to turn to seafoam with the sunrise. The best way to make sure that he at least _considered_ marrying her—no one had ever explained the magic of that, but that was the way it worked whether they liked it or not—was to make sure she was there where he was.

His expression was somewhere between pleased and concerned, and she wondered if maybe she'd shown her own fear a little more than she'd meant to.

“Well, we can certainly open up a suite on the ground floor for you,” he said with a small, reassuring smile. “I know the sound of the river isn't the same as that of the sea, but there's a few places close to the water that you might enjoy. And no stairs to deal with.”

Anna made a face at him, and he chuckled, which made her relax a little. He was only teasing and she knew that perfectly well; she wished she could tease back, could make him smile more...

But then dinner arrived, and talking was, for the time being, finished.

-

“So, are you ever going to tell her?” Sypha asked idly as they lay in a tangled, sweaty heap.

They would have to conform to propriety soon enough, but while they were still out of Braila, she wanted everything her men were willing to give. Having time where the three of them could just be lovers, could just indulge in one another and enjoy the results...

She wanted to treasure each moment, but they _did_ need to talk about what was going on, and how it would affect all of them in the coming days.

“It's a... delicate subject,” Adrian said after a moment, shifting a little as Trevor did. “I think she knows, or... at least suspects. Sometimes when she watches us-”

“Watches _you_,” Trevor interrupted, stifling a yawn. “She's always watching you...”

Sypha nodded in agreement; even when Anna was listening to her, or to Trevor, at least some of her attention remained locked on Adrian.

“Fine, when she's watching me, I've seen...” Adrian fumbled for a moment, then rolled onto his back with a sigh. “She's afraid of something to do with me, or us, and I'm not sure what yet. And I don't _like_ her being afraid, I want to make her not afraid somehow...”

Sypha rolled over as well, until her back was tucked up against Trevor's chest and she could drape an arm over Adrian.

“You have to say something, though,” she pointed out. “If for no other reason than to see if she objects the way other ladies of the court do.”

“I know,” Adrian grimaced a little, and rubbed his face briefly. “But wording it so that it doesn't hurt her...”

“To be fair, _you_ were the one that pinned us both and demanded to know what was going on,” Trevor pointed out, languorously sliding his hand up Sypha's body to gently cup a breast. “And it's been sort of an open-secret ever since, which is why the ladies get so.... _touchy_ about it.”

She elbowed him gently, and he obligingly moved his hand elsewhere.

“He has a point,” Adrian said with a soft chuckle. “And you weren't in the least bit shy about it either. Anna's... I suspect she's many things, but experienced is not necessarily one of them. You've both seen it, how she regards so much of what we find normal as a new experience.”

Sypha sighed a little, then nodded. There was no point in denying it, not when she honestly thought it made her look rather cute.

“If she _is_ open to it... would you protest?” he asked after a long moment. “Either of you?”

“I still don't trust her,” Trevor grumbled a little. “You're basically wrapped around her finger, and you,” he nudged Sypha gently, “can't make me believe you don't think she's cute. You keep saying it.”

She reached up and back, and lightly pressed her palm to Trevor's cheek, hearing the tension under the lightly spoken words.

“Trevor, she _is_ cute, but that doesn't mean I'd pick her over you,” Sypha replied. “No one's getting abandoned, we're just... discussing the possibility of opening up a little more. You weren't this opposed to it when it was considered we might have to do it with a lady of the court...”

“And if one of you ever gets around to asking the question,” Adrian's voice took on a brief teasing cast, and he quickly blocked the pillow that Trevor tried to hit him with, “you'll most certainly have each other... Is it wrong of me to want that same sort of comfort?”

Sypha went silent in surprise; oh, she had been perfectly aware that Trevor was considering asking for her hand, and was also of the opinion that if he didn't ask soon, she really _would_ pounce on him herself. But she hadn't really thought about how becoming Trevor's wife, Mrs. Belmont, might affect Adrian's position in their triad.

“Well, no,” Trevor said after a minute, surprise in his tone too. “I just... we don't know anything about her. And you both agree that she's hiding _something_. It's hard to trust someone who's got a big secret that might bring down unspecified trouble.”

“...that's _sort of_ the point behind teaching her to read and write, Trevor,” Sypha said a little dryly. “She can't communicate too much with us yet, but we're working on that. And you have to admit, when she wants to express an opinion, she finds a way. It's not her fault we're bad at figuring it out.”

Adrian's chuckle was soft, and just a little bit sad.

“So then, what is _your_ opinion on the matter, Sypha?” he invited after a moment. “Since I've heard Trevor's more than enough...”

“Well, I do agree that she's hiding something, but what she's _not_ hiding is the fact that she adores you,” Sypha offered after a moment. “I'm pretty sure that even if you _weren't_ insisting on giving her so much she'd adore you. Being around you seems to be all she really wants, and she doesn't seem to care if it means she's in constant pain because of it. So, whatever she's not able to tell us right now, I don't think it's anything that could cause real trouble.”

Adrian nodded a little, and Sypha felt a bit of tension easing. Very gently she elbowed Trevor again; his hand had gone wandering, and while it felt nice, there was still _his_ issue to address as well.

“You need to ease up on her a little,” she said when he made a faintly complaining sound. “If she's going to be at the palace with you both, there's going to be times where she's not able to be in Adrian's presence. It's not unreasonable for you to make sure she's not bothered by anyone who doesn't need to be bothering her.”

She felt his sigh ruffle her hair and he snugged his face down against her shoulder after a minute.

“...please, Trevor?” Adrian asked softly, reaching over to run his hand through the other man's hair. “I would feel better if you could watch her when I can't. I'm not saying you have to like her, or want to kiss her, just... treat her kindly. A little more warmly than you have been.”

“...I'll try,” Trevor finally said. “But if something bad happens, I absolutely reserve the right to be very smug and say I told you so at least a dozen times.”

Sypha giggled and elbowed him gently again as Adrian huffed a soft laugh.

-

Intimidated was probably the correct word for it, all things considered; she had thought the seaside city was big. She had thought the towns they passed through were big.

She now realized that compared to Braila, they were _small_, and she was smaller still, just one more person among the hundreds that walked the streets. The palace that Adrian called home was far beyond the manor house, and Anna was not just clinging to Adrian's arm because her legs felt stiff, and walking made everything scream. She was actually getting somewhat used to the latter, really....

“It's all right,” he murmured gently. “We'll get someone to open up one of the downstairs suites, and you can settle in to a quiet spot...”

That held more appeal now than it had at dawn, really; she'd though she was getting used to the sheer number of humans, but there really wasn't any way to prepare for something like _this_. People in sober clothes took the horses, others unloaded the coach, and yet others were running back and forth across the stone-paved yard they were currently standing in.

“Your highness, welcome home,” and one of them bowed politely, smiling thinly. “Their majesties will be pleased to learn of your safe return.”

“Yes, please do inform them,” Adrian replied politely. “And inform housekeeping that one of the riverside suites needs to be opened for my guest. The green one will do. She'll be staying for the foreseeable future.”

“Very good, sir.”

The man bowed, then turned away. Anna let out a small, uneasy breath, then jumped when Trevor's hand landed on her shoulder.

“See, this is why we said Sypha's would be better,” he said a bit dryly. “Still time to change your mind...”

Anna shook her head and huffed at him, tightening her grip slightly on Adrian's arm. Adrian, for his part, gently patted her hand with his free one.

“Come on. Best go make our greetings to my parents before the dinner bell rings,” he said. “That'll give the head housekeeper time to air out your room, and then you can hide in there for a little bit until everything's not quite so loud.”

She smiled at him weakly, and pressed her head firmly against his arm. If a place like this actually achieved quiet, she would be shocked.

“Well, you don't need _me_ for that boring stuff,” Trevor said, lacing his hands together behind his head. “I might just go see if anyone's interested in getting their arses kicked after a long ride~”

Anna surprised all of them with the speed at which she grabbed his shirt before he could leave. Adrian snorted a small laugh, and she flushed, releasing the fabric after a second.

“...what, you don't want me to go?” Trevor asked, startled.

She shook her head a little, though she uncertainly shuffled in place; he wasn't exactly _kind_ to her, but he was familiar, she _understood_ him, and as much as she wanted to cling to Adrian alone, being parted from Trevor was unpalatable as well. She rather wished they hadn't dropped Sypha off at her own home already... Having all three of them there would have been much better.

“Mother would probably like to know that you're back safely too,” Adrian said after a moment. “I'll keep chatting to a minimum, if that will make you feel better about it?”

Trevor blinked first at Anna, then at Adrian, before sighing theatrically.

“Oh, all right, but only because you're asking so nicely,” he replied with a small grin.

Anna was almost willing to swear he'd been touched by her grab, and she offered up a timid smile. After another moment, Trevor offered her his arm, and she looped her arm around his, more than willing to cling to both of them. Their strength, size, and familiarity were a comfort, and she sorely needed those.

The interior of the palace was elaborately decorated, the lights a mix of natural fire shielded in lamps or lanterns, and spelled crystals that shed a much more steady light. Banners, fur pelts, and tapestries line the halls they walked through, and thick carpeting padded their footsteps, covering a smooth stone floor. Where there wasn't a light, wall hanging, or niche with decoration, there was a window that let in the sun and showed other parts of the castle grounds.

People hurried here and there, most of them wearing the same soberly colored outfit. Those who walked leisurely had clothing of a finer make, in colors that were almost dazzling wearing jewelry that glittered with every bit of light which hit them. Most cleared the way when they saw Adrian, bowing or curtsying as he walked past; he responded with little nods of acknowledgment though he kept his steps consistent.

“You're going to start all the rumors,” Trevor said with a small smirk, leaning in a bit so that Anna didn't have to strain to hear him. “Being escorted around by the two most handsome men here, not to mention the fact that Adrian doesn't let just _anyone_ hang off him.”

“We would have started more rumors no matter where she ended up,” Adrian replied, though he kept his tone low, and a faintly polite smile on his face. “I couldn't have avoided that forever...”

Anna looked up at them both in concern; was Trevor trying to say that she was doing something detrimental by clinging to them? Adrian's smile softened a little, and he patted her hand gently.

“It's all right,” he said softly. “Everyone gossips, so really, the sooner we get you introduced, the faster the rumors will fade. All the court needs to know is that you're my personal guest for as long as need be.”

“We're telling your parents the truth though, right?”

“Yes, Trevor; after dinner, I'll talk to them and tell them everything. Would you like to be privy to that, or should I just tell you after?”

Trevor grimaced.

“Tell me after. I can handle being in court with them, but you know it's harder in private...”

Anna tugged his arm a little, uncertainly worried, and Trevor gave her a crooked smile that told her next to nothing.

“Long story. Don't like talking about it.”

She hesitated, then tentatively squeezed his arm. Adrian chuckled a little as Trevor flushed a bit, and looked away, scratching the back of his head with his free hand.

“Would you like to come, Anna?”

She glanced up at Adrian and tipped her head uncertainly; on the one hand, she was tired, and there was entirely too much going on around them for her to relax. On the other, what if he wanted her there?

“Maybe you should let her rest up a couple days before subjecting her to anything informal,” Trevor suggested dryly. “Your mother's all right, but...”

Adrian rolled his eyes tolerantly.

“Father can be a bit intense at first, but you know that's why he lets Mother take the lead,” he replied, his tone just as dry. “Why don't we see how you're feeling after dinner?”

“Best to not subject her to the high table her first night, unless you want her to starve,” Trevor pointed out as they entered yet another grand hallway.

Anna blinked and tipped her head curiously.

“Everyone's watching you at the high table,” Trevor explained when Adrian only looked briefly perturbed. “You're not doing so bad at learning table skills, but it'd probably be best if you sat with me at one of the lower tables. They might still stare, but they won't openly make fun of you.”

“That's not necessarily true, but...” Adrian sighed a little. “You're right, it might be better for her.”

She tugged at his arm and frowned a little. She was right here, perfectly able to choose for herself.

“...you're already going to be facing a lot of scrutiny, I don't want you to-”

She tugged again and shook her head a little. She might get stared at, but why was that her problem? If humans couldn't be polite and all, that was _their_ issue to deal with, not hers. She was going to stay near him as much as she possibly could, and staring was hardly going to change that.

Trevor snickered a little as Adrian sighed, then patted her hand again. Satisfied that she'd been understood, Anna leaned her head against Adrian's arm, and smiled a little.

-

It was the tail end of evening court, and Adrian watched absently as his parents greeted a wealthy merchant as their last petitioner of the evening. He understood the point behind the sessions, and enjoyed watching the way his parents would work together to come up with a solution for the problems they were often presented, but there were times where he wished he could be just a little bit more rude and interrupt the thing so that they didn't have to stand there and wait.

He glanced down at Anna, who was standing straight again and looking around in a sort of overwhelmed fascination; should he try again to get her to sit with Trevor at one of the lower tables, or should he insist that she stay with him during the meal. Or should he perhaps inform the kitchen that he wanted a meal in his own rooms, and take her there so that they could dine in private?

He stifled a sigh at his own impatience, and glanced at Trevor instead. Trevor was much less interested in court proceedings, and was not subtle about showing his boredom. Adrian was honestly surprised he'd elected to stick around, but maybe Sypha's words had gotten through to him and he was feeling out how to treat Anna himself. He rather hoped that was the case; he didn't expect Trevor would want to kiss or have sex with Anna when he had Sypha, but even just treating her with a little more kindness, a little less suspicion, was welcome.

The fact that Anna had grabbed Trevor when he'd tried to leave had been honestly cute, if a bit surprising. But then again, faced with so much new and unknown, and having already dropped Sypha at her home, having what little was left that was familiar was probably comforting for her.

She glanced up at him, and Adrian smiled at her faintly; she responded by laying her head against his arm again, and it took effort to avoid moving his arm so that he was cuddling her instead of just supporting her. There really was an undeniably sweetness to her adulation, one he was getting more and more hard-pressed to ignore.

The banging of the herald's staff against the stone snapped him back to reality, and he looked up to see his parents rising from their thrones. Quickly he moved forward, lifting his free hand to catch his mother's eye. She stopped, and caught his father's arm as well, and Adrian walked quickly through the assembly, trailing his two companions behind.

Admittedly, he would much rather have _not_ done this publicly, but better to disperse the rumor mill as quickly as possible, and give the more pertinent details in private. Plus, he wanted to get Anna to her suite before much longer so that she would have some time to herself.

“Adrian, welcome home,” Lisa said warmly, “and you too, Sir Belmont.”

“Majesty,” and Trevor bowed politely. It never failed to amuse Adrian that his mother's natural warmth could make even Trevor behave properly.

“This is your foundling, then?” Vlad asked, scrutinizing Anna.

“Yes.” And Adrian gently tugged Anna until she was standing before him instead of half-hiding behind. It took a bit of doing, as she didn't seem inclined to let go of Trevor's arm, and Trevor was subtly resistant to getting closer to the king himself, but he managed it after a bit. “This is Anna. Trevor and I found her washed up on the beach with nothing to her name... not _even_ a name.”

Vlad's eyes narrowed slightly, and Anna shrank back a little against Adrian. He gently squeezed her shoulders, understanding that she was unnerved by the direct stare of the king and offering what comfort he could. The full weight of his father's regard was often a heavy thing, and he wondered what the older man was seeing in Anna's face.

“You,” the king said slowly, “have a story to tell. Yes?”

Adrian felt the shiver that traveled through Anna's body and squeezed her shoulders again. The first few meetings with the king tended to unnerve everyone... Only his mother had been able to stand up to him from the first.

“She's unable to speak, Father,” he said. “We're planning to work more on her ability to read and write, now that we're in a stable place again, however.”

“I see...”

Lisa's hand landed on her husband's arm again and Vlad drew back a little, blinking slightly, then glanced down at her.

“We'll have to talk after dinner,” she said gently. “I'd certainly like to hear more about what happened myself, as well as what you're hoping to do in the days to come.”

“I'm more than happy to do so, Mother,” Adrian replied with a small smile.

“For now, it is time for the evening meal,” Vlad broke in, looking over their heads at the nobles who were being slower than usual to take their leave of the court. “It would not do to keep everyone waiting much longer.”

Adrian nodded in agreement and moved aside, pulling Anna with them so that his parents could sweep elegantly out of the room.

“...that went well,” Trevor said after a moment, shaking his head a little.

“Yes. Anna, would you like to see if your room is ready, or would you rather come to the meal with us?”

Anna looked up at him, looked at Trevor, then looked at the doorway Adrian's parents had left through. After a moment she shuddered, and brought her hands to her face. Adrian and Trevor shared a concerned look, then Trevor touched her shoulder lightly.

“Hey, you okay?”

She peered up after a minute and smiled weakly, then let out a shuddering breath.

“...perhaps it would be best if you ate in your room tonight, and we can address the subject of where you'll sit for the formal meals later,” Adrian suggested, rubbing her shoulders lightly.

Anna nodded, and leaned against him for a long moment before letting out another sigh and straightening.

“Want company?” Trevor asked. “Adrian's going to _have_ to put in an appearance, but I don't, and a quiet meal is probably the best idea I've heard all day.”

She hesitated, a brief flash of uncertainty crossing her face before she nodded, and even managed another wan smile. Adrian kept a firm arm around her shoulders, and started escorting her towards her room.

-

The green room was _very_ green, but Anna was honestly much too tired to give it more than a cursory glance. When Adrian led her over to a couch near a fireplace, she was glad to fall onto it, and almost tipped sideways in her fatigue.

“I agree with that,” Trevor said with a faint snicker. “Court always seems much louder after being away for a few days...”

“You're not wrong,” Adrian sighed a little, then smoothed her hair gently as she struggled to stay upright. “I'll go put in an appearance and dispel the early rumors. You're all right staying here?”

She started to nod, then realized he was looking at Trevor, not at her.

“I'm good with it. We've got people bringing us food soon enough, so it's not like I'm going to starve or anything,” he replied with a dry smile. “You go make your show.”

Adrian glanced at her, and she read the question in his face; was _she_ comfortable with this? To be fair she wasn't, she would rather have had Adrian stay and Trevor go, but Adrian had duty and responsibility. She understood those, even if she didn't like them.

And Trevor had _volunteered_. It was a little concerning, but she rather thought he was trying to be nice, trying to be a little more friendly. She wasn't going to turn that down for anything; she _wanted_ Adrian's friends to like her. It might make getting him to not look away from her a little easier if they were willing to advocate in her favor over anyone else.

Adrian startled her then, by dropping a quick kiss onto her forehead before lightly clasping Trevor's shoulder and leaving. She brought a hand up to touch the spot and felt heat rising in her face.

Trevor snickered a little.

“Good thing he waited til there was no one else around for _that_,” he said wryly. “You're already going to be facing enough scrutiny as it is. And I do _not_ envy you the fact that you're going to need more clothes to fit in here.”

Anna looked at him uncertainly, trying not to curl in on herself with his words. More clothes? She didn't need _more_ clothes, she already had enough clothes that were uncomfortable to wear!

“Don't look at me, I don't know anything about the current fashions. I'd say just model your wardrobe after the queen's and you should be fine. Most of the ladies our age add various sorts of ornamentation, trying to get Adrian's attention... You'll stand out more by _not_ doing that...”

He paused, then peered at her a bit.

“Though if we're being fair, you've already _got_ Adrian's attention,” he finished. “...you're not planning anything nefarious are you?”

She blinked, taken aback by the direct question, then shook her head. She wanted to be with Adrian, there was nothing nefarious about that, was there?

“...ugh, Sypha's right, you really do wear everything you're thinking on your face,” Trevor sighed a little. “Look, I'll be honest; I don't like the way you turned up out of nowhere and Adrian's become basically besotted with you. That's... I don't think it's your fault, really. I'm just worried about him.”

Anna blinked a couple of times, and tipped her head a little, studying Trevor's face. He _did_ look bothered, and she hesitantly made a gesture towards the door. He didn't _have_ to stay...

“...I mean, I'll go if you want me to...”

She shook her head a little, quickly, then pointed at him.

“What... what do I want?” Trevor snorted a little, and half-smiled as she nodded emphatically. “God, you really are kind of obnoxiously cute when you're not trying to be....”

She eyed him suspiciously; she was _quite_ sure that was more insult than compliment... but then again, Trevor was putting himself in an uncomfortable position, so she was willing to let it slide. His honesty was actually refreshing after two weeks of wary looks and changed subjects.

“In all honesty, I'd rather be eating dinner with Sypha, but I know both she _and_ Adrian will be a bit upset if I leave you alone when you're clearly in need of something familiar. I get that, by the way, it's... hard going from new place to new place and not being sure where the stability is...” For a moment he looked sad, and she tentatively patted at his arm. “...part of the long story. Maybe I'll tell you some time. In any case, I'm familiar, and even if I don't know what to do with you, I can at least help make sure you're not fussing, or go looking for Adrian when he needs to take care of this royal nonsense stuff.”

She sat up a little, then jumped as someone knocked at the door. Before she could get up, Trevor did, letting in several soberly dressed people who brought trays of food and drink. Anna hesitated, not sure if she should get up too, and looked uncertainly at Trevor. When he waved at her lightly to stay down, she was honestly glad of it. Standing still didn't hurt nearly as much as walking, but it still _hurt_, and she was admittedly exhausted.

The trays were set on a nearby table, and Trevor thanked them all very politely before shooing everyone out, and closing the door firmly.

“Welp, I'm going to be the subject of rumors too now. This should be fun.”

She shifted uncertainly on the couch, but when she started to get up, he waved her off, and brought the food to her.

“Don't worry about it,” he advised. “You like Adrian, yeah?”

She nodded immediately, and the half-smile that crossed Trevor's face was warmer than the ones he'd given before.

“Okay. You like him, and you don't want to hurt him. Right?”

Anna nodded again; hurting Adrian could have consequences she didn't entirely want to entertain, not the least of which was her own chance of turning to seafoam.

“...all right. When you're better at writing, we're going to ask lots more questions, you know.”

She half smiled, picking up her fork, and started to eat.

-

Adrian sighed a little and flopped onto the couch in his mother's parlor, rubbing his hands over his face.

“You could have _warned_ me that I was supposed to entertain a princess,” he complained lightly. “I'm quite sure I haven't had a meal that awkward in a long time...”

Lisa laughed softly, and smoothed his hair briefly as she passed.

“If you'd taken your meal with your friend like we thought you would, you wouldn't have needed to entertain anyone but yourself,” Vlad replied, easily settling into his own padded chair. “No one would have been surprised, as you've only just returned. That said, what did you think of her? She told us a _very_ interesting story when she arrived...”

“Interesting how?”

“Well, she _claims_ she saw you washed up on the shore, but before she could come back with other people, Trevor and the surviving sailors of the ship found you instead.”

Adrian shot upright, feeling moderately insulted.

“I think I would have remembered a _princess_ trying to help me,” he said hotly.

“You yourself admit that you don't remember much at all after being knocked out by the explosion,” his father replied mildly.

“....I remember enough,” Adrian retorted, absently rubbing a hand over his chest. “I didn't see much of whoever helped me, but I think I can safely say it was not someone as.... _delicate_ in appearance as she is.”

It was a fair comparison, at least in his mind; he had caught a glimpse of copper skin, of reddish-brown hair plastered down by water that hid the face, if not the form, of his helper. Tiny visual cues that made him think of Anna more than anyone else, really.

Princess Adelaide was a pale skinned woman with fair hair, an even paler blond than his own, and he was quite sure that the only thing she'd ever put her hands to was needle and thread. Not that he disparaged such things, but the hands that had helped him had been strong, the kind of hands that belonged to someone who worked hard at something physical.

“We thought as much, but it's rather impolite to say such things in front of an assembled court, when we have no real way of knowing the truth,” Lisa said, settling in her own chair. “She arrived only this morning, and seemed rather disappointed that you weren't here just yet...”

He grimaced a little and rubbed his face wearily. He had done his best to make light conversation, to find out what had brought her to Wallachia and how she was finding it so far; she had been more interested in flirting and making unsubtle comments about building a new future that he'd done his best to ignore.

“I'll.... find a moment to speak with her about it,” he said reluctantly. “But I planned to spend time working with Anna on her reading and writing. Trevor's not necessarily the best teacher, and she decided she didn't want to stay with Sypha, who would have arguably been a better choice...”

“Do you know her story, son?”

He shook his head a little.

“She can't speak, and isn't proficient in letters,” he said, glancing a bit warily at his father. “Most of what I know I told you when I wrote that first letter. We found her washed ashore after a storm, covered by the sails of a small wrecked boat, and not much else. Since she seemed in distress, I brought her back to the manor, and we've been helping her ever since.”

“...and how do you feel about her?” Lisa asked gently.

“I... like her,” he admitted quietly. “I like being her friend. If... she's open to it, I'd enjoy taking it further. Sypha's already said she's fine with that, and Trevor's... coming around. If slowly.”

He shifted a little on the couch and sighed. He hadn't expected Trevor's jealousy, but thinking about it logically made sense. Trevor _had_ no family, and rather disliked anything that mucked up what he was used to. Even when it had been Sypha, it had taken a while for Trevor to even say he _liked_ her, let alone agreeing to be one of her lovers.

“If that is what you want, then I see no reason you shouldn't pursue it,” Vlad said after a long silence. “There are no great alliances at risk if you choose to have a dalliance with your foundling, and there are worse events than finding someone you can care for among those you'd so previously overlooked.”

Lisa looked up and smiled fondly at her husband; Adrian watched his father's face soften as he smiled back and nodded a little. What they had was what he wanted, what he saw when Trevor and Sypha looked at each other. Maybe with Anna, he could find that same depth of affection...

“I appreciate that,” he said softly. “I don't know what will come of this, but your approval means a great deal.”

“You'll always have our support, Adrian,” his mother said with a fond smile for him. “Though for now you should probably get some rest so that Miss Anna doesn't spend too much time on her own tomorrow.”

“...that sounds like an excellent idea, Mother,” he said with a small, stifled yawn. “I think I'll take that advice, and fall into bed.”

-

_This_ bed was even larger than the one at the manor, and Anna looked at it in bemusement. They expected her to sleep under all those covers, wrapped in a thin gown that tangled with every movement? This was _worse_ than the manor, really, because at least the manor house had been navigable. The palace was twice that size, and she didn't know the first place to start looking for Adrian.

Trevor had excused himself after they had finished eating, and told her that staying put was probably in her best interests until Adrian was able to give her a tour. It was sound advice, and she _was_ overwhelmed by everything, and yet...

She took one of the blankets off the bed, a fluffy thing twice her own size, and dragged it into the room Trevor had said was a receiving room. The couch remained a good enough bed, really, being both thinner and less prone to sinking under her in strange and unnerving ways. At some point she was _probably_ going to have to get used to a bed, but she wanted something at least _mildly_ familiar.

The only thing that would have made it better was if Adrian had been there to lay on. He made a very good pillow, really....

She moved the fancy pillows around, tossing most of them onto the floor, then draped the blanket over the couch before settling onto it herself and tugging the fabric around her. The sound of the fire was not the sound of the sea, or that of the river, but it carried it's own sort of comfort in the crackles and pops of burning wood and coal.

She watched it for a long while, not really asleep, but not necessarily awake either, and wondered hard at some of the choices she was making. Adrian had been on her mind since she'd rescued him, an obsession that was not entirely uncommon among her kind. She wanted to be with him simply because she did.

But humans and their world... everything was so _complicated._ Rules about how to walk, how to dress, how to _eat_... Rules about how to dance! Even magic seemed regulated up here, and while she had seen Sypha use her abilities a couple of times—mostly to start campfires on the nights where they hadn't managed to reach a town—for the most part the idea of it seemed to bother many people.

Which made no sense really; it wasn't the gift that was evil, it was the person and how they used it.

There was a relationship she almost understood between Adrian, Trevor, and Sypha, one she knew Adrian had drawn back from because of her. Sypha had welcomed her with open arms, but Trevor was still wary, still reserved despite everything. And she didn't want that. She wanted Adrian's friends to like her, she wanted to understand their relationship so that she didn't get in the way, but... was included in it.

Eventually she gave up on sleep and sat up, pushing out of her blanket wrap to get up and move towards the door. Maybe she didn't know where Adrian was in this great pile, but it was clear she wasn't likely to sleep without him. Human ruled be damned, she was _finding_ him.

She went to her door, then looked down at herself with a small frown. Logically, this nightgown was opaque enough that wandering around it in shouldn't bother humans, but maybe she ought to get the dressing gown anyways, just to avoid being fussed at?

She heaved an annoyed sigh, and retreated briefly to the bedroom of the suite to grab the darker colored overgown, pulling it on and tying it shut; shoes made no difference to her, really, since she would hurt no matter what was on her feet, so she ignored them, and went to the main door, opening it cautiously and sticking her head out.

It was _quieter,_ but she still could hear people moving around; those in the sober clothes that Trevor had called servants—and said to treat politely because they could make life hell if thwarted—still walked the halls...

She slipped out of the room, hesitated as she looked up and down the hall, then squared her shoulders, picked a direction, and started walking. She was damned well going to find Adrian... or barring that, maybe there was a library room like the manor house.

-

Despite being exhausted, Adrian tossed and turned in his bed, adjusting pillows and blankets until he finally had to admit that he wasn't going to sleep. There were two solutions for this that he could think of off the top of his head; one was going and bothering Trevor, maybe having a fun night, or even just wrapping around him and seeing if that helped.

The other was finding Anna and seeing if maybe she felt more than just admiration for him. Seeing if maybe he could get a kiss, or more than a kiss, if...

Adrian shook his head a little, pushing away the lascivious thoughts. First he had to see if he was reading the situation right, _then_ he had to talk to Trevor and Sypha about it again, then _maybe_ he could think with his nethers and see what Anna might be inclined towards letting him do.

He couldn't _quite_ banish the image of her with that coily hair splayed out over a pillow, but he did try.

He slid his feet into soft slippers and crept out of the room to avoid waking the sleeping servants; despite everything, he still had attendants that he just couldn't bring himself to dismiss, even if he was more than capable of looking after himself. But he knew if he woke them by accident they would be all over him, asking him what he needed, or wanted, and assuring him that it could be gotten without him having to leave his room.

Which was not really what he was in the mood to entertain. Granted, Anna _in_ his room was a nice thought, but the gossips were already trading banter about who she could be, and why he was so interested in her. He really didn't need it to get worse, even if some of them were quite correct about his interest.

He sighed a little as he closed the door softly behind him, and headed out of the royal wing; it was late, so this was probably not the _best_ of ideas, but he couldn't exactly help himself. He had, admittedly, gotten _used_ to having the weight of Anna's head on his shoulder, or his lap.

The fact that she didn't seem to sleep well alone was also a somewhat helpful factor.

He made his way down to her room and tapped on the door lightly, more to be polite than because he thought she would suddenly find her voice and tell him to come in.

“Anna?” He opened the door carefully, slowly, to give her time to realize who it was. “I don't mean to impose, but-”

The receiving room was empty, though there was some small evidence that she'd been there. The large duvet from her bed draped haphazardly over the couch indicated that. He stepped in cautiously; she hadn't much seemed to _like_ the bed at the manor, but maybe....

He checked the rooms of the suite quickly, growing more concerned as she proved to be nowhere. Where could she have gone, and why? Surely Trevor would have told her that she shouldn't go wandering...

After a moment he sighed, then smiled ruefully and left the room; he kept falling into that trap, and he needed to stop. Just because Anna couldn't speak didn't mean that she didn't have her own mind and opinions. He'd seen more than enough of that in the past two weeks, from her refusing the expensive gifts, to how she'd made her food preferences known, to how she'd put in her own oar when it came to making her own decisions.

“She's voiceless, not a fool,” he murmured to himself, shaking his head a little. “Of course she's going to try and find a way around on her own...”

Unfortunately, he hadn't given Anna any sort of tour, and had no way of knowing in which direction she might have gone. And she was _just_ stubborn enough that he doubted she would have tried asking for help in her limited ways. Which meant she was probably wandering around lost, and he was going to have to find her before one of the guards scared her.

-

“You have insomnia, then?”

Anna looked up at the king and half-shrugged, a noncommittal movement.

It had been a surprise—an unnerving one at that—to turn a corner and find him coming down the hallway in her direction, but hadn't been able to duck away before he'd spotted her. He was tall and imposing, dark of hair and eye, and only in the facial features did he remotely resemble his son.

She'd half-thought he would scold her, imperious and regal as he was... but instead he'd spoken to her quietly, almost... soothingly. And now he was walking with her, escorting her rather, towards a library. It had taken a couple of tries to get him to understand what she was looking for, but eventually miming opening a book had worked.

“I suppose in the interest of being fair, coming to court when you're unused to such dramatics would make it hard to rest,” he said thoughtfully. “But you're not very learned, are you? Why the library then? To try and get better?”

She nodded, then half-shrugged a little, looking briefly down at the carpet. She was also half-hoping to find Adrian there, but anyone with any sort of sense seemed to be sleeping now. Finding the king had been luck more than anything else, and she felt a little bit guilty for distracting him from whatever he'd been about to go and do.

“You look a bit perturbed,” he said after a moment, and she looked up at him again, surprised. “You're sure it's a library you want, and not your own rooms?”

Anna nodded again, hesitated, then pointed at him gingerly. To her surprise the king smiled.

“Oh, I rarely sleep at night myself. It drives my queen a little up the wall, but I've always been much more... nocturnal. I prefer to get my work done without the constant chattering and interruptions that come during the daytime, so I'm rarely up before noon, and rarely asleep before the third bell. Adrian can be similar at times, though he does better at conforming to his mother's schedules than mine.”

She thought about this for a moment, head tipping slightly; she was still not entirely used to the way humans carved up the day in these chunks of time instead of sleeping and eating when they pleased. But she had to admit that Adrian hadn't seemed to stay awake long after she joined him... not that she could really judge since she was usually asleep within minutes once she was snuggled up to him.

“What do you think of my son?” he asked, and though the question seemed idle, there was something about the look in his eyes that made her wary. “I know that he is quite fond of you. Do you feel the same?”

Anna blinked, then tipped her head thoughtfully. _Fond_ wasn't really the right word for how she felt when she was close to Adrian, but she didn't necessarily _have_ the right words. She knew that being near him was soothing, that being away from him made her uneasy, and that his smile made everything—the lack of voice, the pain, the confusion and lack of knowledge—worth it. So she nodded after a moment, and whatever the king saw in his face must have been what he wanted to see, because he pushed open a door, and gently bowed her in.

Anna stepped in and stopped short, her mouth dropping open in awe. Shelves soared high overhead taller than her, taller than the rooms she had seen so far. The ceiling soared high overhead, and it was lit entirely by spelled crystals, and maybe a few fireplaces. Which made sense; in a room packed floor to ceiling with books, open fire would probably be a _bad_ idea.

She took a few more steps in and just turned in a slow circle, marveling; what sorts of magic could these books contain, how many words, and how many lives? How much _knowledge_ was hidden between simple covers, written on paper that wouldn't tear away no matter how delicate the pages were turned...

Why couldn't they have something like this for the _seas,_ where the only way to keep history, keep the past, was to have a good memory, a strong tie into the oral tradition and culture. It helped to have people who _told_ you the stories too; Anna never had.

She didn't even realize that the door had shut behind her, that the king was no longer hovering over her, she was just too amazed by the shelves that stretched beyond sensible heights.

-

“You put her in the Library?” Adrian asked, too startled by his father's reaction to be anything else.

“It seemed the wisest course of action, and considering her _re_action to all the books, even if she can't read well yet, I'm not sure that will hold true for very long,” and Vlad chuckled slightly. “Plus, since I expected you'd be up and looking despite your mother's advice, this way I've kept her in one place so you're not fruitlessly hunting and endlessly missing one another.”

His father seemed quite proud of this, and Adrian had to admit that it was certainly a better outlook than he'd thought to expect. With no hints as to Anna's whereabouts, and no desire to scare her by asking people to track her down, he had been at something of a loss.

“...I did _attempt_ to sleep,” he said a little sulkily.

“Oh, I know. You could do nothing less with a suggestion of your mother's. But you are also my son, and I remember all too well how I felt about Lisa after only a few meetings.”

Vlad chuckled softly again, and patted Adrian gently on the shoulder, then pushed him lightly in the direction of the Grand Library. Adrian obediently headed off in that direction, knowing full well that his father was probably going to share this story with his mother over the noon meal and they would both laugh about it. He wasn't inclined to be bothered by it, however, as he now knew _precisely_ where Anna was, and he wasn't about to pass up the chance to catch up to her... and possibly to curl up with her.

He was a bit amazed at his father, though; he almost never let anyone into the Grand Library, not even Vatican scholars. True, the room would do exactly what it was supposed to for Anna, which was awe her into remaining, but it was still surprising. Clearly he had underestimated the amount of time it would take for the two of them to connect, though—and he had to chuckle slightly—his father's nocturnal ramblings often led to interesting events such as this.

He paused a moment at the Library door, smiling faintly; it was such a plain thing, so easily overlooked, overshadowed by the other, smaller library in the other wing of the palace. Which was how his father liked it, really; if people thought the grandly ostentatious doors at the other end led to what they wanted, they wouldn't poke around looking for the true thing.

Adrian pushed open the door and stepped in quietly; as ever, it still took his breath away for a moment, and he could recall all too clearly the first time his father had brought him into the Library as a young child. The wisdom of ages was in these walls, and he never failed to appreciate the fact that, while Lisa was Vlad's greatest treasure, this Library was a close second. A veritable dragon's hoard of knowledge....

And then he looked across the room and felt his heart beat hard; Anna had found a book all right, one with pictures if the way she was carefully running her fingers over the pages was any indication. She had a look of fierce concentration on her face, and even though she couldn't speak, he watched her mouth moving slowly, as though she was _trying,_ sounding out every word under her fingers.

He waited a few moment to see if she'd look up on her own; startling her with a book that thick close at hand was just _asking_ to get hit. She tapped something on the page, her concentration fading into puzzlement, then looked up abruptly.

His heart jumped into his throat at the way her face lit up, and he couldn't keep from returning her smile. She was up and out of the chair in moments, and other than a brief stumble—she was hiding the pain now, but he knew she felt it—was quick to cross the room. She was not _shy_ about showing affection, so he was braced and ready when she jumped at him, throwing her arms around his neck in a hug.

He wrapped his arms around her waist in reply and held her tight, just barely off the ground to spare her what pain he could. Her breath was warm against his skin, and when he breathed in, he caught the scent of the sea from her hair, tangy and untamed. Tension he hadn't even realized he'd been holding on to leaked away, and he pressed his cheek softly against her hair, holding her just a little tighter, a little closer.

It would be so easy to tip his head a little, pull her up a bit more... kiss her...

Anna tugged at him gently and he startled a little loosening his grip as she leaned back to look at him. For a moment he thought she might kiss _him_, but then she tugged at his shirt, indicating that she wanted his help, before pointing over at the book.

“You want me to see what you've found?” he hazarded.

She huffed a little, and he chuckled.

“Not quite... you need help with reading it?”

That got him a nod and another bright smile.

“All right. Though really, we should both probably be in bed...”

She huffed again and wriggled a little; reluctantly he put her down, steadying her as he felt her flinch, then followed as she moved back over to the book and plopped herself back into the chair. It had pictures all right, but he was surprised anyways; not a simple book, one of the many fairytales, but one of his mother's books about plants and herbology. The makings of being a doctor...

Well, in retrospect it did make sense; her gift for healing would certainly be aided by knowledge of the local plants and how to best combine them to make tinctures and poultices, things that would make spending the magic less exhausting because it was being helped along by more mundane needs.

“Mother wrote this,” he said with a small smile, leaning lightly on the back of Anna's chair. “I'd forgotten it was here... She was a doctor before she became the queen, and she still spends several days out among the poorer sections of town, helping people with illnesses and injuries. I'm sure she'd take you along if you wanted to help.”

Anna looked up and offered a somewhat shyer smile, then pointed down at the page. Obligingly, Adrian looked closer, and recognized the problem.

“Ah, those are the Latin formal names,” he said wryly. “That's what the church uses for identification, but right above it, that's the more common name people use.”

She frowned a little, tapping the page again. Adrian shrugged lightly.

“No, I don't really know why it's done that way, but more people know what you mean when you ask for an iris bulb than if you ask for the bulb of _iris germanica_. We should have some growing in the formal gardens... Though I think the gardeners would be a bit upset if you tried to take a sample,” he teased gently.

Anna scoffed and pushed him lightly, her smile wry and easy.

“Oh, I know, you're much more polite than that,” and he let an arm drift down from the back of her chair to curl loosely around her shoulders. “But it has happened before. Mother ended up turning a few of the unused rooms on the third floor into a hothouse so that she could have her plants without needing to borrow form the royal gardens. I'll show you after we've both gotten some sleep, if you'd like...”

She nodded, leaning her cheek against his arm briefly.

“Which we should probably attempt,” he continued gently. “The book will still be here in the morning, but there won't be much point in trying to read it if you're too sleepy to keep your eyes open.”

She looked up at him, her eyes searching his face, then sighed and obediently closed the book. He admittedly felt a _little_ guilty about it, but there really was only so much delay he could be allowed when it came to his personal duties.

Admittedly she was one of those duties, but thinking about it like that made her sound like a chore and she most certainly wasn't. A trial sometimes, maybe, but not a chore.

He helped her up, then hesitated. He hadn't been sleeping... she hadn't been sleeping. It could cause some trouble, but....

“Admittedly, it's not the done thing, but... would you mind very much if I stayed with you?”

Her head came up and she stared at him for a moment, then nodded quickly, wrapping both her arms around one of his. Adrian smiled and tugged her close gently, nuzzling at her hair as she willingly tucked herself into his arms.

“Come on then. We'll see about getting some proper sleep together.”

-

Anna had the sense that there was more on Adrian's mind than just sleep; there was a subtly pensive look on his face, and she could feel tension in him that hadn't been there when he'd been trying to explain the different words on the pages she'd been captivated by. Did he not really _want_ to stay in her room with her and sleep? Or was there something else bothering him that he wasn't going to talk about just yet?

She hugged his arm tentatively, tucking her head against his shoulder as he led her down the corridors that had so twisted and confused her until they reached her room.

“Do you not like the bed?” he asked, giving the blanket-covered couch a small smile.

Anna shook her head a little, tentatively spreading her arms out, then pushing them down a few times.

“Too big and too... soft?”

She nodded, pleased by his understanding.

“That's fair. We have mostly been dozing off on couches, haven't we?”

His smile was harder to make out in the dim light shed by the banked fire, but she _thought_ it looked amused. After an uncertain moment—did _he_ want to sleep in the bed? She would try it again if he did—she timidly pulled him towards the couch.

Adrian pushed the blanket back a bit then sat down on it, patting the spot next to him; nothing loathe, she sat next to him, curling her legs up onto the cushions and leaning against him firmly. After a moment, she nudged at him.

“Hm?”

She nudged him a little more firmly when he looked down; she hadn't missed how often he'd ended up waking up with a stiff neck because he'd fallen asleep sitting up, and she didn't mind if he took up most of the couch.

“You think I should lay down?”

Anna nodded firmly, huffing up at him when he chuckled.

“Don't be upset, I'm not laughing at you,” he said soothingly. “I was just... thinking. Before... laying down, I wanted to ask you something, but I'm afraid I'm not very good at this, so if I use the wrong words, I apologize. Are you... that is, do you feel awake enough for this? If you're too tired, I... it can wait a few more days...”

Anna shook her head and sat up a little more, feeling suddenly nervous; this was something important to him, obviously, otherwise he wouldn't sound so hesitant.

Adrian folded his hands loosely on his knees, leaning forward a bit to stare at the coals of the fire.

“I quite like you, you know,” he said abruptly. “Despite knowing next to nothing about you, including your real name, I like your very much. Time spent around you is... calmer somehow. Easier. I know you're not looking at me and seeing... wealth or power. You're not seeing what a prince's life can get you....”

He glanced at her and smiled a little crookedly.

“You just see me,” he continued quietly. “Which is honestly a very rare thing, and one I like very much. And... I find I would like to be your friend, but also... be _more_ than your friend. I'd... like for you to be a partner... a lover, rather. Like Trevor and Sypha are.”

Anna blinked, and tipped her head a little; they were all words, and they all made sense to him, but context was lacking on her end. She had known in a distant sort of way, the workings of family and relationships among her kind. But she had never had a true example of such a thing, never mingled enough before she was designated the apprentice sea witch, and she wasn't sure she was properly following what he was saying.

“You've.... I'm guessing you've never been in a relationship, have you?” he asked after a moment of studying her expression.

Anna shrugged, then shook her head a little. She didn't have the gestures to say what she was thinking; that she could sort of _guess_ what he was trying to say, but she didn't have any practical knowledge of it. Adrian's expression shifted to ruefully resigned, and she uncertainly patted his hand. Something about the smile was _sad_, and she didn't like it.

“Did you even have _friends_, in the life before washing up on shore?”

She thought for a moment, then shrugged again; there had been Atissa, but Atissa was her teacher, which was a different sort of bond entirely. She had cared _about_ Atissa, had wanted praise—or at the least, acknowledgment—for helping and learning, but it was not the same as being around Adrian, Sypha, and Trevor.

Adrian lifted a hand to her cheek and she leaned into the caress, snuggling into the warmth of his palm with a smile. His thumb stroked over her cheek softly, and he shifted a little, to look more directly at her.

“Would you object very much if I kissed you?”

She blinked at him in surprise, feeling suddenly much less sleepy. Kiss her? He wanted to kiss her?! Uncertainly she tapped her forehead; was that the sort of kiss he meant?

“No,” and his voice was even softer now, hesitant and yearning. “No, I would kiss your mouth.... and anywhere else you'd let me.”

She wanted to say yes... or indicated it, at least. But she looked at him, then thought about Trevor and Sypha. Thought about the way they interacted with one another, how Trevor's wariness melted just a little when Adrian smiled at him sidelong, or the way Sypha pulled them all along when she was excited and determined.

She pulled back a little, wishing she had a way to articulate that she didn't want him to lose them for her. Adrian's hand fell gently from her face and he leaned back slightly, withdrawing in a way that made her want to cry.

“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that... it's only been-”

Anna grabbed his hand and kissed his palm, then pressed it to her cheek again. _Oh_ for the ability to speak and explain, to tell him everything and find the words to allay his concerns. To tell him she _wanted_ to be kissed, to learn more about the way humans did things...

Instead she lifted her other hand to his cheek, trying to plead with him silently to understand. Then she dropped her hand to his chest, pressing softly over his heart so that she could feel it beat.

“...you're worried about... me?” he hazarded after a moment. “My heart? Is.. do you like someone else? Trevor or... Sypha?”

She huffed a little in frustration, shaking her head a bit; she _liked_ them, yes, but it wasn't the same as the way she felt about Adrian. She both wanted and _needed_ to be with Adrian; it was very different about what she thought of Trevor and Sypha.

“Is it something to _do_ with them, though?” he asked after a thick silence.

Anna rocked her head slightly from side to side, letting her hands fall back into her lap as she tried to figure out how to imply what she couldn't say.

Adrian scooted closer as she twisted her hands around each other, before she huffed and tossed them up a little in frustration, leaning forward until she could plant her forehead against his shoulder. Cautiously his hands started to smooth her hair, and stroke her back as she heaved a frustrated sigh.

“...well, I did think there would be no hiding that from you, but I wanted to... Hn. Maybe it's better if I do it this way, then.”

He pushed her back gently, enough so that she could see his face in the dim glow of the embers. Earnest, honest... open.

“I am in a relationship with both of them, yes,” he said softly. “I love them both dearly, and we.... like to indulge in one another often enough that it's not exactly a secret.”

Anna froze, heart stuttering a little in her chest. She had been right then; he already had someone, more than one, and she wasn't-

“But I also know that if it came right down to it, they would be just as happy together as they are with me, and... well, I have been pushing Trevor to marry her for a while now. I know Sypha loves me, but she feels _more_ for Trevor. I... did resent that at first, but now I know I just want them both to be happy, and if they are happy together, then they should _be_ together. I know...” he was quiet for a moment, then slipped his hands under hers squeezing them gently. “I know they won't abandon me. Even when they're married, I will still have them as friends and lovers. But I would also like someone of my own, someone who sees me as _Adrian_ before they see the crown prince of Wallachia.”

Her heart began to beat evenly again and she let out a slow breath as she tried to parse what he was saying. It _sounded_ rather like she still had a chance... There was a decided difference between loving someone, and marrying them, and she had _certainly_ witness Adrian trying to get Trevor to propose to Sypha.

In a way it was soothing; she didn't know how the spell functioned, but she wasn't in any danger of Adrian marrying Sypha. It was him marrying anyone else that might cause her trouble...

“I've spoken to both Trevor and Sypha about.... about making you part of things,” he said when she looked up at him, aware that the silence had grown tense again. “I don't expect... well, if you _wanted_ to, I'm sure we could all find a way to have quite a bit of enjoyment. But... I think for a while, I'd like to keep you to myself, if you're all right with it? I mean, you don't have to be, but-”

He was talking _entirely_ too much, looking flustered and unsure of himself. So Anna leaned in and inexpertly pressed her mouth to his. He went still for a moment, surprised, then his hands came up to cup her face and he kissed back. When she pulled back he followed for a brief moment, then halted, and blinked a couple of times as she silently giggled at the stunned look on his face.

“....you think I'm talking too much now, yes?” he hazarded after a moment, voice somewhat husky.

Anna nodded, giving him a somewhat shy smile.

“...well then, perhaps you should keep me quiet with some further kissing.”

She giggled silently, leaned forward, and did just that.

-

“...do you need a small break?” he asked as they reached the top of the third flight of stairs. “You're looking a bit.... tired.”

“There's so _many_ stairs,” Adelaide complained. “How tall _is_ this place?”

Adrian glanced over at Trevor, who rolled his eyes eloquently, before returning his attention to Anna, whose grip on his arm was telling. He hadn't _planned_ to bring the princess along on the tour, but she'd been standing close enough to overhear after the morning meal, and nothing he'd politely hinted had seemed to get through.

Which was why he'd recruited Trevor to act as an additional buffer, despite the other man's protests. It also helped Anna to have a second person to lean on while navigating stairs both up and down; it certainly lessened the chances of her falling down them if her legs gave out from the strain.

“It's an old place with a lot of history,” Adrian said mildly. “You are, of course, quite welcome to return to your rooms if you'd prefer, princess.”

Adelaide's pout was something he would expect more from a five year old than someone his own age, and she crossed her arms under her chest, unsubtly pushing her breasts up until they seemed almost about to fall out of the gown. He glanced down at Anna again who was giving the princess a bemused look before she glanced up at him and shrugged lightly.

“All right. Let's move on, then. Up here is the hall of portraits of past royal families-”

Adrian had given the tour often enough to visiting dignitaries that he could do it in his sleep, which let him split his focus fairly neatly. Anna seemed to be hanging on to his every word, but that was no surprise; she was admittedly always doing that, and her steady focus was actually quite comforting. He'd noticed as they stood still while he spoke that her grip eased a bit, as though the pain she suffered dulled a bit. Which made sense, even if he didn't entirely understand _why_ she was in a constant state of pain while on her feet.

A glance at Trevor showed that his friend had tuned him out, but he was _also_ studying Anna, with the air of one who wasn't sure how to handle the new dynamic. He was trying to be polite, Adrian couldn't fault him on that, but he also couldn't exactly blame Trevor for his continued caution. Hopefully it would continue to fade; already he'd noticed Trevor was a little more solicitous and had even half carried Anna up several steps when her pain had reached a level of impossible to suppress. True, they had made something of a game of it to make her laugh—and watching her face crinkle as she was consumed with silent giggles had been enough of a distraction that Adrian had almost tripped on the stairs—but he was almost certain that Trevor wouldn't have done that even the day prior.

Adelaide was more of a problem, one he didn't know how to make go away. She was _adamant_ about sticking to her story, never mind the gaping holes in it, and while in private he might call her a liar to her face, in public such a thing would bring about more trouble than one misplaced princess was worth.

Especially if she decided to take it out on Anna, who didn't have the ability to verbally fight back.

Even now she was giving Anna some unsubtle dirty looks, and if he could have freed himself from Adelaide's grip without it being rude, he would have done so in a heartbeat. Her expression turned coquettish and simpering when she caught him looking, only making him feel more certain that she was certainly not someone he wanted to spend any great amount of time in the company of.

“-and this last painting is one my father had commissioned a few years ago.”

Adrian looked up at it, and felt warmth coiling in his chest. Trevor had complained for _days_, but the inclusion of him and Sypha in the portrait had meant a great deal to both of them.

“_You're_ part of the royal family?” Adelaide asked, giving Trevor a dubious glance.

“Indirectly,” Trevor said shortly. “I'm not a prince, but I am the prince's companion.”

“Ugh, and who's _that_, then?”

“....my girlfriend.”

“Oh. You could do much better.”

“And if we take a left here, we will find the scholar's library that my father and mother have worked hard to make available to any scholars,” Adrian interrupted firmly. “The hallway to the right leads to the royal wing.”

Adelaide startled a little, and looked up at him, dark blue eyes widening a little in a facsimile of innocence. Adrian ignored her, glancing instead over at Anna, who was looking up at Trevor with clear concern. Adrian followed her gaze and hid a wince; Trevor's temper was an almost non-existent thing, except under special circumstances, and it appeared that Princess Adelaide, in her haughty, dismissive way, had upset Trevor quite a bit.

“...the library is a good place to stop and sit for a break,” he said, voice gentling. “As long as we don't put anything near the books, we can have some snacks. How does that sound?”

“Well it's about _time_,” Adelaide said with a small huff. “We've been walking for _ages_.”

“...my apologies, princess, but you are not invited. You may visit any of the public areas I have shown you, but it would be in your best interests to _not_ stay here.”

Adelaide splattered for a moment, and Adrian looked down as Anna's hand tightened briefly on his arm. Her worried gaze was turned on him now, and he offered her a small, tired smile. He could put up with thinly veiled innuendo and unsubtle hints that Adelaide wanted to know him more personally, but insulting both Trevor _and_ Sypha in the same breath was just too much.

“Hmph. Very well then,” and Adelaide pulled her arm from his in a manner that suggested she expected him to change his mind. When he didn't, crimson bloomed briefly on her cheeks. “Well then, thank you for the tour, it was... informative. Perhaps I'll-”

Adrian bowed lightly, then deliberately turned away, cutting her off before she could finish. Trevor's smirk was brief and sharp, and a little bit of the tension in his shoulders leaked away. Adelaide puffed and fumed for a few more moments, doing her best to get his attention without actually demanding it, then there was a rustle of skirts and the sound of sharp footsteps.

“...now then, perhaps we should have some tea and cakes in the library?” Adrian said quietly.

“D'rather have them in your room,” Trevor replied. “She can't _get_ into there...”

“True... Anna, would that be all right with you?”

Anna nodded quickly, looking somewhat perturbed as she stared after Adelaide. What was she thinking, he wondered as he turned them down the royal wing and led the way to his rooms. Was she upset with Adelaide like they were, or was she worried?

His receiving room was mostly empty when they walked in, much to Adrian's relief; he was reaching the tail end of his ability to be politely social, and he didn't need an entire group of hovering servants.

“We'd like some tea, cakes, and sandwiches,” he said to the waiting attendant. “And then some privacy.”

“Yes, Highness, right away.”

Trevor immediately flopped down onto the long couch, sprawling across it with a tired groan.

“That,” he said after a moment in which Adrian helped Anna sit on the smaller couch and settled next to her, “was a pain in the arse. _Why_ couldn't you get rid of her sooner?”

“Political manners,” Adrian replied, tipping his head back so that he was addressing the ceiling more than Trevor. When Anna's head landed on his shoulder he shifted enough to rest his cheek on her hair with a faint sigh, closing his eyes. If he could just have a few minutes... “She is a royal cousin, even if we're not actually related, and I'm not _allowed_ to just tell her to go away without just cause. Which she was being very careful to not give.”

“Right up until she thought I might be part of the family,” Trevor grumped.

“You _are_ part of the family,” Adrian said dryly, cracking open an eye to look at his friend with fondness. “Just not in a _brotherly_ way.”

Trevor made a rude gesture, and Anna's shoulders quivered slightly as she giggled silently. Adrian huffed a little, unable to help his smile.

“Unfortunately, she's likely to be here indefinitely, until she either 'confesses' her attempt to save me directly _to_ me, or she finds someone else to give her attention to,” he continued with a small sigh. “I'd hope for the latter, mostly because if she tries to relate her story of seeing me washed up on the beach to my face I might forget that I'm supposed to have manners.”

Anna went still in his hold, and quivered just slightly. Adrian pulled back a bit, but whatever had made her shake, he couldn't read it on her face or her eyes. Instead she blinked up at him curiously, then offered a small, shy smile.

“Despite her obtrusiveness, was that... fun?” he asked hesitantly.

She nodded quickly, and lifted her arms a little, her small smile broadening.

“You liked us lifting you up the stairs, huh?”

Her smile became a grin and some silent giggles. Trevor snorted a little, and Adrian caught the small smile before it vanished.

“There really does have to be some way we can help you get around that doesn't involve you being in pain,” Adrian said, absently cuddling her.

Anna shrugged lightly, and nuzzled against him, patting his hand gently.

“Why not ask your mom?” Trevor suggested, propping himself back up on the couch as the servant returned with the treats, then withdrew silently. “She _was_ a good doctor before she became the queen; hell, she's _still_ a good doctor...”

“This is true. Would that be all right with you, Anna? Letting my mother examine you to see if there's something we can do?”

Anna looked away, the expression on her face suggesting frustration. It smoothed out quickly, and she offered a small shrug that was neither agreement nor refusal. Adrian touched her face lightly in concern, but for once she actually refused to look up at him. After a hesitant moment, he leaned forward and picked up a cup of tea, offering it to her.

She took it, still not looking at him, and sipped carefully. Adrian glanced over at Trevor and saw his friend watching her with a look of mingle suspicion and concern.

“Well, you think about it,” he said gently. “Since we're going to have some calm time-”

“Dibs on napping couch!” Trevor said immediately.

Adrian rolled his eyes in tolerant humor as Anna's small smile reappeared, taking on a fond cast.

“Fine, _Trevor_ can nap. Would you like to practice letters and writing?”

_Now_ she looked up, and her nod was swift and firm.

-

_She was walking, every step sending darts of pain up her legs, but if she stopped walking, she would lose the path, lose the trail she was following. If she lost the trail, she'd never find him again. She couldn't lose him now, if she lost him now she'd die!_

_ She picked up her feet as the panic set in, even though running hurt worse than walking, and hurried down the endless hallway; her steps were echoed by the subtle, mocking laughter of the princess called Adelaide, and she caught glimpses of them up ahead every now and again; her arms wrapped tightly around one of his, his head bent to hear what she was saying._

_ Her foot caught on the edge of the carpet and she went down-_

And hit the carpeted floor, jarring herself back into awareness abruptly.

“Mnn? …'nna?”

Anna lifted her head with a jolt, shuddering as the tears slipped silently down her cheeks. From the long couch overhead there was a rustle of the blanket, and then hands gently touched her shoulders, helping her to sit up better.

“Shhh, hey,” Adrian's voice was soft, muzzy from sleep. “It was just a bad dream...”

She threw her arms around him and pressed her face against his shoulder as she wept. He wrapped his arms around her, one slowly rubbing her back as she shuddered.

“The walking dream again?” he asked quietly.

Anna nodded, and reached for the pad of paper; it had been Sypha's suggestion that she carry it and a few bits of charcoal to practice her writing whenever she could. Her handwriting wasn't _neat_, but if she took care, she could make herself understood.

Considering her hands were still shaking, it took her a bit to form even a legible sentence.

_She was there again_...

Adrian nuzzled at her softly, kissing her forehead, and gently ran his thumb along her tear-streaked cheeks.

“It's all right,” he murmured, pulling her gently onto his lap. “Not even God Himself could command me to like _her.”_

It made her smile weakly, and he nuzzled her softly again.

It _did_ help to know that Adrian had no interest in Princess Adelaide, and was, in fact, often going out of his way to avoid her. She still sat at the high table for the formal meals, but never _with_ him, and half the time Adrian managed to either make it so that they sat with Trevor—sitting with the knights and soldiers was not something Adelaide would 'lower' herself to do—or had peaceful meals in either his rooms or hers.

Not that Adelaide was taking the very broad hints, but Adrian was certainly trying very hard to discourage her.

“Think you can go back to sleep?”

Anna shrugged a little; sleeping after a nightmare was difficult at the best of times. Her anxiety liked to tell her that the dreams were visions of the future, that one day Adrian _would_ turn away from her and her fate would be nothing more than a patch of foam washed down the river.

He trailed his hand softly through her hair, then started feathering little kisses onto her face. It startled her, then, as she realized what he was doing, made her giggle silently. Adrian couldn't kiss each and every one of her freckles, but he certainly liked trying, and the physical affection really did go a long way towards making her relax.


	4. Little Mermaid part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for suicidal ideation and attempt  
Warning for smut
> 
> Part 2 of the NaNo novel!

“What do you _mean_ you haven't gone any further?” Trevor asked, raising an eyebrow as Adrian shifted a bit uncomfortably. “You're in her room half the nights you're not in mine, and you're telling me you haven't even _thought_ about it?”

“...of course I've thought about it,” Adrian huffed a little. “Some nights it's all I _can_ think about.”

“So what's stopping you?”

Adrian glanced sideways; Anna had prevailed upon him to go and visit Sypha, which he was more than happy to do, but he hadn't expected Trevor would be trying to start a discussion about their sex life... or in his current case, the lack thereof. Sypha was still pointing out some books that she thought would suit the speed at which Anna was learning to read, and he half-smiled at the gleeful looks they were sharing.

It also meant they weren't listening, which was a double-edged sword. Why Trevor couldn't have asked this the other evening when he _was_ spending some personal time with him...

“I need everyone to be comfortable with the idea,” he said finally, lowly. “I haven't had the time to discuss it with Sypha, and you're still not giving me straight answers about what you think of Anna. I'm not saying you need to want to have sex with her,” he added quickly, raising his hands at Trevor's insulted look. “But you can't tell me if you do or don't like her, and I don't really relish the idea of having to _choose_, Trevor...”

What made it worse was that he knew which was he'd go if it had to _be_ a choice, and the damage that would cause could be irreparable. But there was just something _about_ Anna that calmed him in a way that no one else could; a bad day was made easier when her hand found his and held on, or when she would insist _he_ be the one to lay down so she could run her fingers through his hair.

Trevor sighed a little, and looked away.

“I like her,” he said after a minute. “Not as much as Sypha, and she's still not telling us something important, but... she's stubborn enough to walk no matter how much it hurts, she's mad enough to sit with you at the high table even though she doesn't have even a single title to her name, and she's put up with a lot from me that I didn't really think she would... It just feels weird, all right? It's been the three of us this long, so I didn't want to make it even weirder...”

Adrian paused.

“Like her in more than a friendly way?”

“...I swear, if you make fun of me-”

“No, no,” Adrian held up his hand placatingly. “I'm just trying to clarify. We've... certainly had fun with Sypha, and I'm not opposed to that idea for her, just.... not right away.”

Trevor snorted a little, and gave him a light shove.

“Well, now you know what _I_ think, so maybe go figure out what Sypha thinks.”

“....once Sypha's finished talking her into getting the books, I will... assuming, of course, she doesn't corner me and do it herself,” Adrian finished dryly.

Trevor snickered a little.

“Knowing Sypha...”

“Speaking of, how's your _own_ progress coming?” Adrian asked, deliberately shading his tone towards too innocent to be taken seriously. “Found yourself a nice romantic spot yet?~”

Trevor shoved him again, flushing a bit.

“It's been _busy_.”

Adrian laughed, pushing gently back, then smiled as Anna gleefully bounded over to them, arms full of books.

She really was just adorable...

-

“No, I don't mind the idea at all,” Sypha said, leaning against the balcony railing with a faint smile. “Princess problems aside, I don't think you've really ever looked more at peace with things, and I'm pretty sure it's because Anna's with you. I'll certainly be looking forward to a night when it could be all _four_ of us, though~”

Adrian tried not to choke on his wine, flushing a bit at Sypha's unsubtle dig.

“....we'll work up to that,” he said after a moment, voice slightly strangled. “I haven't even broached the subject of her being _my_ lover yet; more than that might be... too much right now.”

“Well, as long as she knows she's got to share, and _you_ know it too, I don't see any real problems. Have you talked to Trevor about it?”

He rolled his eyes, and glanced down at the grounds below, easily picking out Trevor and Anna from the small crowd of people and players. It was cute to watch them dance, mostly because they were both very bad at it. Trevor approached it with his usual carelessness, but Anna's face was a mask of concentration. This lasted right up until Trevor decided he was going to pick her up and swing her around, making her laugh her silent laugh even as she clung to him to stay upright after he set her back on the floor.

“Trevor cornered _me_,” he said dryly. “This morning in your shop while you were busy showing Anna all the books she could now work with. He's certainly doing better; he even admitted he likes her.”

“Good,” And Sypha nodded firmly. “Because I like her too. I do think she'll tell us soon, this big secret of hers. It may just be that she's waiting for something to tell her it's really safe to do that. Maybe this will be it.”

“....maybe,” Adrian tipped his head a little. “Though I think part of the problem is still the princess. Did you get my letters about her nightmares?”

Sypha nodded, running her fingers lightly around the rim of the glass.

“That is worrying,” she admitted after a moment. “But again, I do think it'll be solved if she has some... concrete _proof_ that you don't want to just stop with kisses. Make use of the bed instead of the couch~”

Adrian snorted a little, and smiled, shaking his head lightly.

“Isn't _Trevor_ supposed to be the raunchy one?” he asked, amusement lacing his tone.

“_Trevor_ hasn't been around lately,” and Sypha pouted dramatically for a moment. “So I might be feeling just a _little_ frustrated.”

“Ah, so some of this is you projecting on to me,” he teased.

Sypha elbowed him gently, more amused than insulted.

“Well, you're going to stay overnight, yes? I'm sure the two of you can address those frustrations~ Or is there another one I should be aware of?~”

“...well, I do know that I might smother him with a pillow if he doesn't ask me soon,” she said dryly. “He seems to want to find the perfect moment, but that's just stalling him.”

“You can, of course, always take it away from him. I would enjoy watching that, and it would neatly sidestep the procrastination he seems to be indulging in,” Adrian said wryly.

“I'll give him another month; we're almost at the midsummer fete. If he doesn't ask me by then, I'm going to pin him down and ask _him_,” Sypha said with a firm nod. Then she glanced at him and Adrian had a sudden stab of unease at the sly smile that crossed her face. “And since _you're_ pushing so hard, does that mean I get to return the favor?”

She laughed as he flushed and downed the rest of his wine in lieu of an answer; the thought had certainly crossed his mind more than once, and while there would be a lot of annoyed nobility, he was quite certain that the phrase 'like father, like son' would be tossed around to explain his choice of bride.

“It's _not_ something to rush into,” Adrian managed after several flustered minutes. “You and Trevor are different, this has been coming for at least two years!”

“Mmhm... and the fact that you're blushing has nothing to do with it?~”

He glared at her, and Sypha smirked.

“You _are_ in love with her,” she teased, though her voice was softer now. “There's no shame in admitting it, Adrian, and even if people _do_ think you're rushing in, that's their issue, not yours. I'm not saying you need to march down there and propose right now, just... don't get too comfortable. The things we love can be swept away so quickly if we aren't careful...”

Her gaze had shifted, looking down again at Trevor, and Adrian reached over and put a hand on hers.

“Shall we go down there and save them from more bad dancing?” he asked.

“...yes. I think we shall.”

-

Anna was quite happy to soak in the bath that the serving maid had set up for her after the small party, rubbing her sore legs absently as she sank into the bubbles. She' experienced the issue of her legs twitching before, after entirely too much activity, but dancing was... well, it was _fun_. It was fun when she danced with Trevor, it was fun when they all danced in a group, it was fun to dance with Adrian.

And the best part was that she hadn't had to share a moment of it with the snobby princess. Adelaide, to no one's disappointment, had left dinner early claiming a headache that made her feel faint and ill. She's said it loudly enough to attract a good bit of attention... but Adrian had only glanced at her briefly, then gone right back to explaining the finer points of fencing rules.

Admittedly, it hadn't been the most engaging of subjects, but she wasn't going to let Adrian know that. Watching his face as he talked about something he enjoyed was worth getting details more technical than she really needed to understand.

She lifted a hand, letting the water drip down her arm and into the small scars that dotted her skin before dripping back into the tub. It still felt like a dream sometimes, to be here where he was, to listen to him speak, to be able to _touch_ him...

Anna sank a little more into the water, blowing a few bubbles of her own with a soft exhale. She stilled missed the ocean, missed the currents and the way time had no meaning under the waves. She missed Atissa, and even somewhat missed being nameless. It was funny how a name seemed to build an identity... She had only been 'Anna' for a short while, but the name made her feel more solid, more _real_...

A tap at the door made her jolt a little, and she sat up quickly, reaching reflexively for something to throw. She didn't deal well with being surprised. Fortunately, the door remained closed, and she turned her attention to it moments before he spoke.

“Anna? I'm sorry, I probably startled you, and I know you must be tired, but... I wanted to speak with you about something when you're done.” Adrian's voice was muffled by the wood, but she thought he sounded... nervous. Excited? Something more than just letting her know he was there for their nightly napping attempt. “I've brought some tea and your favorite treats, and I'll be out here when you're dressed...”

She heard him move away from the door, then shifted in the tub, reaching down to pull the drain plug out. It had been explained to her that this would ferry the water elsewhere instead of people having to lug a tub in and out of a room, but at the moment that was not nearly as curiosity inducing as wanting to know why Adrian was there.

Anna hissed a little as her feet touched the floor; all the dancing made the pain of her legs and feet even worse, and slowed her some; she dried and wrapped up in the dressing gown that had been left for her on the small bench, fastening it as quickly as she could before she scampered into the receiving room.

Fortunately, Adrian was close enough to catch her when she misjudged the placement of a footstool and almost took a dive. He chuckled a little as he set her upright, then wrapped her up in a hug. The warmth of him surrounded her and Anna nestled into him, curving her arms around his waist Like this, she could pretend there was only the two of them, could listen to the way his heart beat softly in his chest, and breathe in the subtle spicy scent that made her homesickness slide away.

“You didn't have to rush,” he murmured. “I would have waited until you were properly done.”

She lifted her head a little, and huffed up at him, making him smile.

“Well, I would have. Come on, let's go sit next to the fire so you can properly dry off, hm?”

She nodded, but when she would have let him go and stepped out of his hold he shifted and swung her legs up, carrying her as though he hadn't been wearing himself out with his own dancing and fun only an hour before. But when she pushed at him, he shook his head gently, then kissed the tip of her nose.

“I'm all right,” he said reassuringly. “I _want_ to carry you. Besides, you've been on your feet all day thanks to me, and you must be tired.”

Anna huffed a little and pouted, but only for a moment; it _was_ nice to be carried, to be cradled by him. It wasn't like being lifted by the water of a bath, or the ocean, but it was... similar. Comforting in a way that she missed.

He settled her gently on the couch where they usually slept, pulling the small table with the promised treats closer before he sat down too.

Anna leaned against him, and felt his breath catch briefly, heard his heartbeat speed up. Tired though she was, she accepted the tea and treats, then started nibbling while Adrian sat quiet and thoughtful. He got like this sometimes, and she was willing to wait him out. Sitting with him in silence was almost as comfortable as sitting and listening to him talk.

Finally he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“...there really is no delicate way to ask this,” he muttered, shaking his head a little before he turned his gaze on Anna. “Anna... you know there are nights I visit Trevor, yes? And when we were all at the manor, it was Trevor and Sypha sometimes?”

She nodded, sipping the tea carefully. He was working his way up to something, and she would find out what if she just waited.

“We aren't... _sleeping_ some of those nights. We're ah...” he flushed a little, and rubbed the back of his neck. “...how on earth do I say it...?”

She tipped her head a little, then reached for paper and charcoal.

_You already told me they were very important to you. Friends and lovers._

He half smiled, nodding a little.

“You have a good memory.”

_It was important to you that I know it. I remember things like that._

Adrian's smile took on a softer cast, and he leaned forward to kiss her forehead softly.

“Thank you, that does make this... a little less awkward. I just... I'm not sure how to say this. See, it was Sypha who instigated everything, who suggested that we try being... all of us being together. Both romantically and physically. So...” he sighed a little, and rubbed his face briefly. “...let me try it this way... You like kissing, yes?”

She nodded, feeling a bit of heat rise in her own cheeks. It wasn't the same in public, for reasons she was still trying to wrap her head around—why would it cause trouble if he kissed her like that where other people could see?—but when it was just the two of them...

“Would you like to move.... to more than kissing? Do you... that is, _will_ you trust me enough to show you what I mean by saying I want you as... as my lover?”

_What about Trevor and Sypha?_

He smiled a little, and gently brushed his fingers over her cheek.

“You do worry about them a lot...”

_They're important to you. Friends and lovers. Even if_ she frowned and smudged the words away before he could see them. _I don't want them to not like me. I don't want there to be problems between you because of me. I like them too..._

If she had known more earlier, she might have suffered her desires in the ocean alone.

“I did talk to them about it,” he smiled wryly. “Rather, Trevor cornered me this morning, and Sypha pushed me a few hours ago. They both said that I should, that they were all right with it. Trevor,” and Adrian rolled his eyes in fond amusement, “was apparently surprised that I _hadn't_ already asked you to be my lover.”

That made her grin a little; wariness aside, Trevor was an interesting person, and was actually quite fun to be around when she couldn't be with Adrian. She wasn't sure she wanted to _kiss_ him, but she definitely didn't mind spending time with him.

_I do trust you_.

How could she not? He'd trusted her right from the start, despite the fact that she could say nothing, could tell him nothing. He'd given her clothes, shown her new foods, let her cling to him like a starfish on its favorite rock when her legs her so badly she couldn't breathe. He'd brought her here with him, when he could have left her behind in that seaside town.

“...would you like to see what I mean when I say I want you to be my lover?” he asked softly.

Anna looked up at him, at the heat in the amber eyes she adored, then half-closed her eyes and sighed. As much as she wanted to know what it was he would show her, that depth of emotion in his face... she couldn't _not_ tell him the truth.

Even if it meant ruining any chances she had.

_I have to tell you something first..._

He pulled back, blinking in surprise.

“You're not... that is, it's not... ah...”

Funny as it was to watch him fumble, Anna was nice enough to not leave him there too long.

_No, I'm not doing the bleeding thing. I... I don't know that I will, honestly. It's..._

Anna frowned a little, then sighed.

_You were shipwrecked a couple month ago during a storm. Your ship blew up and threw you into the water, and you could have drowned, but you didn't. Despite being unconscious and too far from shore, you somehow washed up on that beach._

Adrian blinked at her, then nodded.

“I don't remember much, you... I've told you that, yes?”

It was Anna's turn to nod, and then she smiled a little sadly.

_I know how you survived._

“....how, Anna?”

_It was me. I saved you._

“You.... found me in the swells in your boat and-”

She shook her head sharply.

_I was under the waves. I was mer._

Adrian looked at her for a long moment; Anna sighed, and bent her head over the pad.

_My teacher sent me out to gather things that felt right so that she could craft her potions for our people. That was my gift, or part of it; I knew when something was right for a spell and when it wasn't. When I was done gathering, I saw you ship and the... explosions..._

“Ah. Yes. The fireworks,” he grimaced a little. “I told them not to be extravagant, I was trying to get _away_ from extravagant...”

_I know._ And she smiled sheepishly._ I was eavesdropping. I know it's late now, but... sorry..._

“And when everything blew up...?”

Anna shrugged lightly.

_I got off the ship before the lightning hit, but I stayed close, trying to figure out if you were getting off safely or not. I saw you just before everything fell apart, and managed to find you before you sank too deep into the water. With the raging storm, I figured it would be faster and safer if I pulled you under the waves, so I gave you a breath of magic so you wouldn't drown. It was a bit before dawn when we reached shore, and it wasn't easy to get you up on the sands, but I did my best to get you out of reach of the tides, then dealt with the damage you hitting the water so hard had caused. When I heard Trevor shouting your name, I left. It's not safe for my kind to be seen by humans, and I'd done everything I could for you._

Adrian was quiet for several minute, reading and re-reading her words. Anna couldn't watch him, so she put the charcoal down and picked up the tea cup again. It didn't taste of anything, and fear was skittering along her spine; this was going to change everything, but she couldn't be more than his friend, couldn't reach for the future without the truth being told.

“....so why are you here now, then?” he finally asked.

Anna sighed.

_Sometimes when we rescue humans, we can forget them, and move on. Sometimes... we can't. I'd sleep, and I'd see your face, hear your voice. When there was nothing to do, I'd watch the coral and wonder about you. I tried scrying you once, just to see if it would help, but watching you just... it just made things harder. I kept trying to forget, but my teacher caught me out. We scryed you again so she could tell me where you were, and then I traded my voice to her for a potion that would give me legs. So I could..._

Anna hesitated, hand trembling a little.

_So I could see you._ She finally wrote. _And be with you._

He reached out and tipped her face up until she had no choice but to look at him.

“There's more to it than that, otherwise you wouldn't look so scared,” he said gently. “Tell me the rest, Anna.”

She bit her lip, and blinked back the tears.

_If I don't marry you, I'll die. Literally. If you wed someone else, the magic keeping me in human form will dissolve, and so will I. I'll turn to foam._

He stared at the page, then at her; Anna refused to meet his gaze this time, hands clenched into fists in her lap. Everything was going to change now. How could it not? She was putting an unfair, impossible burden on him, one that would either keep him away from other people out of obligation to her, or drive him _too_ those other people just to get rid of her.

“I... this needs to be... can I show this to..?”

_Yes. Trevor and Sypha, your parents, whoever you want. I'm sorry. I just wanted_

What she'd 'just wanted' didn't matter any more now; she was thinking more, beyond when it was time to sleep, time to eat, time to gather. Time had meaning, and the people that moved through it did as well, and looking at it now, she knew her desire was selfish. She had wanted to be with him because she'd been attracted to his beauty; now she wanted to be with him because she truly did adore him.

But with this truth, there wasn't much chance he would want to be with her any longer.

“...Anna...”

His hand rested softly over hers, then slid under and picked it up; he surprised her into looking at him by kissing the back. He looked... confused. A little unhappy. But there was still that warmth at the back of his eyes.

“Don't go anywhere. Okay? I just... this is... _big_. I need to process it, and I need to show this to Trevor and Sypha at least. I'll try to keep him from barging in with more questions, but... you know Trevor...”

She just nodded; Trevor would probably be upset. So would Sypha. If they _didn't_ have questions, she'd be shocked.

“You'll stay?” he pressed gently. “If you leave the room, you'll leave a note telling me where you are?”

Anna nodded again, brutally squashing any hopeful thoughts; he was being a good friend by making sure she was safe... how much longer could that last, though? She couldn't stay with him after telling him the whole truth, could she? No, that was nonsense...

She started to turn away, then jolted as he brought a hand up to her cheek and leaned in, ghosting a soft, sweet kiss to her mouth.

“I care about you Anna, as more than a friend, but this isn't my decision alone,” he said gently. “What I can say right now, at the least, is thank you for saving my life.”

She smiled weakly, then closed her eyes as he kissed her again, slow and gentle. He lingered with the kiss, and it was hard to keep the tears in check, but she managed it somehow. Adrian's hand softly caressed her cheek as he pulled back, and she managed a tremulous smile even as she clenched her hands tightly in the dressing gown.

It wasn't until the door closed gently behind him that she cocooned herself in the blanket and wept bitter tears.

-

Adrian held the papers in his hand as he made his way through the hall; part of him had wanted to just toss the pages aside, to get back to making her his lover was well as his friend, but this was too much. Too big. He had thought about marrying her, yes, definitely. Despite only knowing her a short while, he felt he loved her with the same strength as Sypha and Trevor.

But to be the reason she didn't die an unfair, untimely death?

He needed to talk this out with someone that wasn't her. And it wasn't going to be easy because they would both have questions, so many questions he couldn't answer because he didn't have the _same_ questions.

Would Anna be able to answer the questions, or would she have fallen apart the moment he'd closed the door? He'd seen her eyes, bright with tears and fear, but so _determined_ to tell him the truth...

How could he _not_ love her for telling him this? She could have said nothing, could have lied by omission or even directly. But she had told him the truth before allowing him to move to a step he couldn't take back.

Adrian sighed, and shoved open the door to Trevor's rooms. They were smaller than the guest rooms, and lacked the attached bathing room; if Trevor hadn't been a Belmont on top of Adrian's best friend, he probably wouldn't have had them at all.

He could hear the noises coming from the bedroom, and grimaced a little; it was tempting, _so_ tempting to join them. To forget that Anna had written these words for a little while, and just take pleasure in their company, let them comfort him until it no longer felt so ominous. Until he could think with a clearer head, even.

He gave the bedroom door a perfunctory knock, then pushed it open.

-

“Do _I_ interrupt _you_ when you're in the middle of things?” Trevor demanded irritably.

“I'm sure now that I've given you reason, you'll find a way,” Adrian replied tiredly. “This is _important_, Trevor...”

“You're supposed to be having sex with Anna right now, not pestering _us_,” was the sour retort.

Adrian glared.

“I will smother you with a pillow.”

“Trevor, stop it,” Sypha sighed, smacking his bare shoulder lightly. “What's wrong, Adrian?”

He pushed the pages at her, then ran a hand through his hair as she reached over and turned up the lamp so that she could read them properly. Trevor rested his chin on her shoulder, annoyance fading as the words sank in.

“....well shit,” he said, flopping back onto the pillows. “You think she's serious?”

“Yes,” Adrian said softly, clasping his hands loosely in his lap. “If I were to marry someone else, she truly believes she'll die. And it makes sense... not the dying, but the rest of it. Why you didn't see anyone, how I managed to make it to shore despite the distance. How she turned up that day just after the storm....”

He rubbed his hands over his face, then sighed, and flopped backwards onto the bed, landing across Trevor's legs. Trevor made a vaguely annoyed sound, but didn't try to shove him off, which helped some.

“It... does explain a lot more than that,” Sypha said thoughtfully. “Why she was so quick to latch on to you, and how she didn't seem to know... well, anything, really. What do you want to do?”

“If I knew that, I'd probably be doing it already,” Adrian said dryly. “But this involves you two as well, not just me...”

“I dunno, it certainly seems like something that's between you two,” Trevor drawled. “Ack!”

Adrian turned his head and half-smiled as Sypha's elbow dug a little more into Trevor's ribs.

“You can be so rude sometimes,” she huffed. “This is big, and it's something we needed to know too.”

Trevor rubbed his ribs and wisely stayed quiet.

“I suppose the biggest question that needs an answer is this one; do you want to marry her?” Sypha continued, giving Adrian a sharp, piercing look.

“I.... I'm still not sure,” he admitted. “This... this changes things. I'm glad she's... I'm glad she told me, but that's not necessarily the conversation I expected to have before...”

“Before blowing her mind?~”

The tease was meant lightly, so Adrian only hit Trevor with a pillow once. Trevor snickered a little, then shifted as Adrian sat back up properly.

“I like her,” he said quietly. “I love her. If she was gone, if she died, I... But...”

He made a small, frustrated sound.

“....you left her in her rooms, yes?” Sypha asked, putting the papers on Trevor's bedside table. “She's probably still there. Why don't we go and talk to her, and get more information?”

“What else is there to get?” Trevor argued, even as he followed Sypha's lead and got out of bed to grab his clothes.

“Plenty,” Sypha retorted. “I'd like to know more about this potion for one thing. Maybe there's a way to counter it, so that there's not so much pressure on Adrian to choose her. Maybe there's a way to give her back her voice, or at least give them both more of a choice than marry or die!”

Trevor sighed a little, and pulled his shirt over his head.

-

She woke up when a gentle hand landed on her shoulder, and would have groaned if she could. Crying herself to sleep had probably not been the best option, but being awake and left to her thoughts had been arguably worse. So she really only had herself to blame for the pain in her head.

Not that she wanted to be awake now, but she knew that touch, and could no more deny it than she could force herself to stop breathing. Unwillingly, timidly, she opened her eyes, and flinched back a little when she realized it was all three of them.

Of course it would be. He loved them. And she's said he could tell them.

She sat up slowly, reluctantly, pulling the blanket a little more around herself defensively. There wasn't anything she could—or would—do to stop them if they wanted to hurt her... So the wet handkerchief swiped briskly over her face by Sypha was as much of a shock as Adrian sitting down with her and pulling her—blanket and all—into his lap. Being wrapped in the blanket didn't warm her half as much as being wrapped in his arms, and she snuggled despite her grief. When the glass of water was offered, she accepted it, and let out a small sigh of relief as the water eased the pain in her head.

Sypha settled on one side, and Trevor on the other, and for a short moment, everything felt...

Right.

Then came the questions.

“Why did you come up to the ship? Really?”

Anna looked at Trevor, and freed her arms from the blanket to get her things.

_Because I'd never seen fireworks before. Or humans. Not up close. I know to stay away from fishing boats, avoid the nets, but your boat was different. I was curious._

“Didn't you have to get back to your teacher?”

Anna shrugged.

_It's different for us. We don't carve time up into hours and days. We eat if we're hungry, we sleep when we're tired, and if she needs-needed-something urgent, she'd tell me. But gathering what feels right isn't an order to get and come back. Not like here. And the ship graveyards are worth exploring for ages..._

“Sliiiiightly morbid, but okay,” Trevor said dryly. “Ow!”

Adrian pulled his elbow out of Trevor's side with a small, annoyed sound; Sypha giggled a little, shaking her head fondly. Trevor huffed, and glared back.

“You traded your voice for legs?” Sypha asked.

Anna nodded.

_You can't get something for nothing from a sea witch, the magic doesn't work that way. Most people have something better to trade, something easier; food, something salvaged from a human ship, something important to them but not _as_ important as whatever they want her to use the magic for. But I didn't have anything. _

“...you're an orphan?”

There was something soft, something _sad_ in Trevor's voice.

_I didn't have anyone but my teacher. I did her errands, she taught me how to use my magic. I-it never bothered me. Maybe sometimes I would look at others and wonder what they had that I lacked, but mostly it was... fine. It was what it was._

He grimaced a little, and planted a hand briefly on top of her head, ruffling her hair. It was an affectionate touch, and oddly... made her feel a bit better. A bit more secure.

“So you traded something you _did_ have and...?”

Anna shrugged again.

_My teacher made me a potion that would give me human legs. This happens every few decades or so, enough so that we all know the tale. It's... I think you'd say cautionary? Warning..._

“Cautionary is probably right,” Adrian murmured softly, his chin lightly resting on her head. “A story that says this isn't necessarily a good thing, then.”

_When a mer gives up their tail for a human, there is pain. It's why I don't walk good, why stairs hurt. And... by being human we give up everything. There's no reversing this change, no way of going back to the sea if it doesn't work right. If the human we rescued and coveted decides to marry someone else, then the magic breaks, and we do too. It goes either way; sometimes the mer marries their human, sometimes their human marries someone else. When the mer doesn't wed their human, they turn to foam and are gone with the sunrise._

“But why should that kill you?” Sypha asked, puzzled. “And why _marriage_?”

_That's just the way it works_, and Anna shook her head a little, helplessly. _We tie our fates to the human we chose, but if we're not chosen in return, it snaps and becomes nothing. And so do we. For most, that's enough to turn them away, to make them forget. Safer to live long under the waves than risk death above them._

“...but you couldn't?”

Anna shook her head, hand curling tight around the charcoal. Briefly Adrian's arms tightened around her, and she wanted nothing more than to turn, to shift up and kiss him. Maybe they could both forget if he showed her...

She stayed still, and closed her eyes wearily.

“Why now? Why say anything at all?” Trevor asked finally, breaking a silence that had gone thick with tension.

_Because I know more now. Yes, I want to be with Adrian. It hurts being human, but I'd rather hurt than never know. And I.... But I couldn't-I can't _

Anna scowled at the paper, frustrated. It should be easy to 'say', really, but the right word was evading her. There had to be a way to explain it that made _sense_.

She jumped a little when Sypha put a hand over hers, looking up into sympathetic blue eyes.

“You like watching the court proceedings, don't you? Seeing how the king and queen work to get every detail they can about a situation before making a decision. You wanted Adrian to have all those details too, didn't you?”

Anna let out a breath, nodding. It wasn't right to say nothing, to both run the risk of being turned away from for other reasons, or to get what she wanted through duplicitous means. He had to _know_, so he could make the best choice for _himself_. Not... do what she wanted because he lacked vital information.

Adrian hugged her again, nuzzling the top of her head softly.

“So there's no way to change it? He either marries you so that you don't die, or he doesn't marry at all?” Trevor asked. “Because if you think he's going to be able to do that, knowing it'll kill you...”

Anna flinched; that hadn't been the point at all.

“Trevor,” Adrian said warningly.

“You can't tell me it's not true,” Trevor retorted, folding his arms over his chest.

_I can't control it. I'd take the choice for him if he found.... if someone else could _

It was _hard_ to write the words, suddenly. New tears prickled at the back of her eyes as her hand trembled. The idea of Adrian falling in love with someone else wasn't what stung; he'd loved Trevor and Sypha before he'd even known she'd existed. It was not being able to see him ever again, after she became the seafoam. Never being able to know that he was truly happy.

But if he loved someone else enough to marry, she would rather see him happy with that person than miserable because of her.

_I won't stand between._

It was the best she could do. She didn't have the right words, and she was shaking too badly to make anything else legible. Despite her best efforts, a tear slipped down her cheek and hit the paper, blurring the letters. Where one tear went, another followed, and despite her efforts, she wept.

Adrian pulled the papers and charcoal from her hands, and turned her so that she could press her face against his chest. One hand stroked her hair, the other moved in soothing circles on her back, and his cheek rested on her head.

“Well done Trevor,” Sypha sighed.

“...didn't mean to make her cry,” he muttered back, sounding embarrassed.

Anna heard Sypha sigh, and would have squeaked if she could have made any sound at all when Sypha's arm wrapped around her as well. She _did_ jump when Trevor threw his arm over the top, and it was surprising enough to make it easier to stop crying.

Adrian chuckled a little, and softly kissed her forehead when she pulled back and wiped her face, trying to understand what was happening. Shouldn't they be _mad_ at her? Why were they hugging her, why were they _still here_?

“...I will admit, the thought of marrying you has already crossed my mind several times,” he murmured. “It's certainly my right to choose my bride. I just thought it was.... too soon.”

She blinked up at him in confusion, feeling her heart jump briefly into her throat. He couldn't be saying what she _thought_ he was saying.... could he?

“You going to piss off _everyone_ in court then?” Trevor asked dryly. “Just like your old man?”

“It might upset people, but my father is quite right in this regard,” Adrian replied dryly, gently nudging the other man. Then he looked down at her again and his smile was soft and warm. “You didn't have to tell me anything, but you did. How can I...” he frowned a little, thoughtfully. “Let me rephrase that. I wish to marry you. Not because it will turn you to seafoam if I don't, but because.... because I love you.”

Anna stared. She heard the words, but they suddenly made no sense.

“...I think you broke her,” Sypha said after a moment, somewhere between amused and concerned.

“Our cue to leave?” Trevor asked.

“Anna?”

She blinked, hard, then slowly looked at Sypha.

“Would you like to be part of a sleep pile?”

Trevor groaned a little, but fell silent when Adrian's elbow dug into his ribs again.

“It's where all of us curl up in bed, and stay together,” Sypha continued, clearly ignoring the two men. “It's good for when someone feels vulnerable and lost, and needs comforting. It's also nice to just lay down together, and have your friends around you.”

“...Sypha, I _did_ interrupt-”

Sypha huffed at Adrian, who fell silent.

Anna looked at Sypha, at the fond warmth and concern in her eyes, then shifted to look at Trevor. He looked a _bit_ put out, but gave her a somewhat crooked smile and surprisingly eloquent shrug; if she needed it, he wasn't going to turn away.

Then she looked up again at Adrian, who smiled softly, and nuzzled at her gently.

“Your choice,” he said quietly. “Sleep piles are very helpful when I'm stressed, but if you're not feeling up to it...”

She'd only ever been wrapped up in Adrian's hold before, but this.... she liked this. The extra pressure of other arms, they way they all just seemed to... _fit_ together. It felt right, it felt...

She nodded meekly.

“This will be fun,” Adrian said with a small smile, as Trevor and Sypha both sat up. “We've never slept in the bed before.”

“Why not?” Sypha asked.

Anna made a slight gesture, then gripped Adrian's shoulders as he stood up.

“It's too big, typically,” he replied, nuzzling at her as she wrapped around him. When she huffed, he chuckled, and kissed her temple. “Too soft as well, right?”

Anna nodded a little, stifling a small yawn.

“You think this is bad, wait until you see _his_ bed,” Trevor said with a snicker.

She glanced at Trevor, then up at Adrian uncertainly. _Would_ she ever see his bed? Adrian's smile was faint, and he kissed her temple again.

“Some other night,” he murmured. “Though perhaps I'll move my rooms to a ground floor suite so that you don't have to climb three flights of stairs.”

Something in his voice made her blush, and she half-hid her face against his neck. Adrian's soft chuckle was echoed by a more amused snicker from Trevor, and when she looked up again, she saw that he and Sypha were already tucked under the blankets of the large bed; not curled up together as she might have expected, but to either side, leaving the middle of the bed open. It still baffled her a bit at how they could be _comfortable_ sleeping on something so soft...

Adrian unwound her from the blanket carefully, somehow managing to do it without setting her down, then set her gently on the edge of the bed just long enough to strip off his boots. When he climbed in, he tugged on her until she was laying on him, and one arm wrapped snuggly around her waist.

Anna let her eyes close, tucking her head down against his shoulder.

Maybe the beds weren't so bad if they could fit this many people in them...

-

“You'll have to announce it, you know,” Trevor said once it was clear Anna had fallen into an exhausted sleep. “You're the crown prince, it's never going to be a _quiet_ engagement.”

“Not right away,” Adrian replied softly. “I have to first tell my parents, then we have to figure out when the right time would be for the announcement. Most dramatic is probably at the start of the ball for the midsummer fete, which is still a month away. It's not a _lot_ of time, but I'm not really sure she realizes just what it is she's gotten herself into.”

“...do you?” Sypha asked. “Are you sure about this?”

Adrian was quiet, stroking Anna's hair softly.

“I don't want her to disappear,” he said finally. “Waking up to find her gone, I... Just the thought is unpalatable.”

“But she chose to tie her life to yours, not to make you do the same,” Trevor argued, yawning a little. “Her choice isn't your fault.”

“No... but she could have chosen to say nothing. She gave me everything. How can I _not_ respect that? From anyone else, it could have been a manipulation tactic, but... I just can't believe that from her. She's too...”

Adrian frowned a little.

“She's too pure,” Sypha offered. “Too honest. And unlike Trevor, you've said she _likes_ watching court?”

“She seems to, at least,” he said with a small nod. “Even when I'm not in attendance as prince, she likes to sit on a tall stool and watch.” He smiled ruefully after a moment. “It distracts her enough for a few hours that I can go off and do some of my own duties without feeling too guilty about leaving her alone.”

Trevor snickered a little.

“Well, if you're sure, then I guess I won't try to talk you out of it. Gotta say though, if you were looking for a _really_ romantic proposal-”

“You can't talk, you still haven't proposed,” Sypha huffed, lifting her head a little to mock-pout at Trevor.

“Ah...”

Adrian chuckled softly as Sypha flopped back down after sticking her tongue out at Trevor.

“Regardless, it's going to cause some consternation, but I don't think I'll regret it, and maybe fulfilling the spell path will allow her to speak again. If nothing else...” Adrian nuzzled at Anna softly, and her fingers curled loosely in his shirt. When he spoke again, his voice was softer. “If nothing else, I do think I've found what I was missing.”

“Ugh. If you're going to get sappy about it, I'm going to sleep,” Trevor grumble, loosely tossing his arm over the both of them.

“Philistine,” Adrian said in fond amusement. “Sypha, do you mind staying for a few days? I can, ah... make tonight's interruption up to you both...?”

“I'll stay, but not _just_ for that,” she giggled softly, also draping her arm over the both of them. “Anna's going to need more clothes, both for the fete, _and_ for the wedding. And didn't you want her to have more everyday things? That'll probably go better if one of us is available to hold her hand when the seamstress get huffy.”

Adrian winced a little; he hadn't thought about that...

-

She was definitely not hiding, she decided firmly, even as she peeked around the corner of the hallway. _Definitely_ not hiding from _anyone_ at all.

Then she snorted a little at herself; of course she was hiding. No one had really warned her that the morning would consist of a meeting with a very loud and somewhat temperamental seamstress who took Anna's limited wardrobe as a challenge, and her simple tastes as an insult. Even with Sypha to help her get the moment to write the words out, the seamstress was loud and dismissive; Anna didn't want ruffles, fine, but there were going to be some frills anyways. Definitely some beadwork, and didn't they know they should have started the process of a proper ballgown weeks ago? It was hardly going to be as proper a gown as necessary with only the limited amount of time to work on it!

Anna sighed a little, slumping slightly against the wall, and rubbed tiredly at her face, wishing she could still be snugged down on Adrian, with the other two curled up on either side. It had been the most comfortable and deepest sleep she'd had in a while... No nightmares, not even dreams of being in the ocean again; for the first time in what felt like ages, she'd had a night where she felt completely secure and safe.

Granted, Trevor had gotten up complaining about needing to piss, and Sypha had gotten up not long after him, but it had been nice while it had lasted. Laying with Adrian for a bit, just the two of them, had been nice as well; the pressure of one hand on her back, and one on her neck had almost sent her right back to sleep.

Rotten church bell.

She would have rather spent the day with him, but he had things to do, many of which involved climbing stairs to speak to a variety of people. Which was why, when Sypha had offered to stay with her while their boys—and it made her smile to think of them being called that and not complaining about the label—did necessary work, Anna had initially accepted.

If she'd known that it would mean standing for a _dressmaker_, she would have probably not.

She peered around the corner again, determining that the coast was more or less clear—no sign of Sypha, though she did feel back about leaving the room while she was away—then slipped across the hall intersection to the plain door of the Grand Library that King Vlad had brought her to on her first night alone.

She didn't necessarily understand why there were two libraries, and what made this one more protected than the other, but she _did_ know that she was guaranteed privacy, and a chance to catch her breath, both of which she rather needed.

It was quiet in the Library, and she went over to the desk she'd been at last time. To her surprise, the book of plants she'd pulled out last time was still there, if closed, the page she'd been looking at marked by a ribbon. She didn't remember doing that, didn't remember _Adrian_ doing that... Had it been the king, then? Or some other, helpful sprite that made this place of books and knowing its home?

She looked up into the air, then bowed her head a little in thanks before settling down on the well-padded chair and opening the book back up to read.

-

“_How_ exactly did you manage to lose her?” Trevor teased, gently poking Sypha's shoulder.

Sypha jabbed him with her elbow, making Adrian snort a little in amusement. Worried he might have been, but it was a valid question.

“I didn't think she was going to leave the room while I was getting lunch!” she huffed. Then muttered. “Didn't think the seamstress was going to try and _stay_ either...”

Adrian patted her shoulder lightly, sympathetically.

“It makes sense that she's overwhelmed by extra people in what she considered a safe place to hide,” he said wryly. “I don't think even warning her would have made her tolerate it for longer than strictly necessary, and we've all seen the confusion about clothing.”

Trevor snickered as Sypha sighed.

“Well, the seamstress is in something of a snit about it, and claiming 'dire things', if Anna doesn't get back so that they can finish measuring and draping cloth all over her,” Sypha said a little sourly. “It's a good thing the fete isn't a costume ball, I don't think we'd be able to convince Anna there's a point to _that_. Just getting her to accept the idea of extra dresses she might not even wear is a trial.”

“Well, there's a limited number of places she could be right now, so we won't have to look _too_ hard,” he said comfortingly. “I expect she'll stick to the ground floor, so if she's not watching Mother and Father at court... Either the gardens, or one of the libraries.”

“I'll check the garden,” Trevor said with a small shrug. “See if I can pick up a trail, considering the rain this morning.”

“I'll take the Scholar's Library then,” Sypha nodded.

“I'll check the court proceedings first, and then the Grand Library,” Adrian finished with a nod. “Meet at her rooms in an hour?”

Trevor nodded, and headed for the nearest exterior door while Sypha turned left down the hall, heading for the ground floor entrance of the Scholar's Library. Adrian shook his head with a small sigh, and turned to head for the Grand Library, absently rubbing the back of his neck at he walked. He probably _should_ have anticipated that Anna would get tired of the attention and questions she couldn't easily answer in short order, but he hadn't thought she might slip away any more than Sypha had.

At least he could tell her that his parents approved of the engagement. While he hadn't let them in on the _whole_ reason, just the fact that he loved her and wanted to marry her was enough for them. And while they would have to keep it quiet for a little while—it was an event, and he knew his father would make it _such_ an event—being openly affectionate with her was now fair game, and he planned to take advantage of that as much as he could.

She was not, as he'd half-expected, watching court proceedings, though a good number of people were. It was interesting to see how the people had separated themselves out, and more interesting to see how some mingled... but Anna wasn't there, so after a cursory stroll around and casual nods to those who saw him and bowed, he left the room and headed for the Library.

“Oh, Prince Adrian~”

He grimaced slightly, and quickened his step; getting caught by Adelaide was not one of the things he wanted to do today. He wanted to sit with Anna, wanted to take the time to coax her back to her rooms so that the seamstress wouldn't try to corner _him—_she was a singularly scary woman when she wanted to be, and he had no desire to be on the wrong end of a pair of scissors. Again—and then spend even _more_ time convincing Anna that she would look lovely in the gowns she was going to get made.

And after...

He gritted his teeth as a determined hand landed on his arm, though he did slow his steps on reflex.

“Please excuse me, Princess, but I am in the middle of something rather important and do not have time to chat,” he said tersely.

“Oh, this will only take a moment, I was hoping to ask about-”

“I'm sorry, Princess,” and he firmly removed her hand. “But I do not have time to answer questions, I must get back to what I was doing.”

Adelaide pouted up at him, trying to cling to his hand instead.

“Really, it's only a-”

Adrian freed his fingers and gave her a clipped bow before turning away again and quickly striding off. He wasn't running, but the less time he spent in her company, the happier he would be. True, walking in the halls was hardly _un_accompanied, but all it would take is one wrong rumor and he would find himself in a deeper hole than he needed to be.

Fortunately enough, the magic that protected the door of the Grand Library didn't recognize anyone who hadn't been personally invited; while he heard her trying to catch up, the moment he slipped through the door he was able to let out a slow breath of relief, leaning back against the simple wood.

“...troubles, son?”

Adrian jumped about a foot, then stared.

“...aren't you supposed to- I swear I just saw you...”

Vlad smirked a little, carefully turning a page in the large book he was reading.

“I asked Lisa to manage court today after your explanation earlier,” he said calmly. “I had a feeling there would be some interesting things to learn if I went invisible for a bit. Did you know there's a new rumor about your attachment to Miss Anna?”

“....I am hardly surprised,” Adrian replied, looking around and spotting her. Relief slid through him, though he remained where he was. His father usually had _reasons_ for conversations, more than just the fact that he enjoyed his son's company. “I was trying to make one of them true last night, in case you've forgotten.”

“Hm. A point,” and Vlad chuckled slightly. “She is.... very much like Lisa was when I showed her this place. Though her reading speed is not quite as quick. I don't think she's even looked up once, not even when I stepped in.”

Adrian half-smiled, watching as Anna traced the page with delicate fingertips. As if she was afraid touching too hard would tear the page somehow. Which made sense, now that he knew where she was originally from; paper and water did not make the best of friends.

“I _did_ intend to ask her if she would be amenable to an examination at your mother's hands, but I haven't the heart to tear her away from the book,” Vlad continued with a somewhat dry smile. “You mother thinks the initial examination by the seaside doctor was quite rude, and wanted to make certain that there isn't something that could be done to help her. What were you doing?”

“...ironically enough, looking for her to talk her into standing for the rest of the fitting from the seamstress,” he said ruefully. “She slipped out when Sypha went for lunch.”

“Ah, yes, and that formidable woman is a bit of a terror,” Vlad shuddered theatrically, making his son grin. “Well then, perhaps you can also pass on your mother's message. I think I should get back to my eavesdropping; staying abreast of new rumors is often quite amusing.”

“...Father...”

Vlad raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

“If there's a way to get Princess Adelaide to... _leave_ soon. I would much appreciate it.” Adrian grimaced a little. “Preferably before we announce the engagement, because I do think she'll try to cause trouble around that.”

“Hm... a knotty problem. I will see what can be come up with. Perhaps your mother will have some good ideas.”

“Thank you, Father.”

Vlad smiled fondly as he marked his place in the book and got to his feet, patting Adrian's shoulder lightly as he passed. Adrian sighed a little, then shook himself lightly and went to lean over the back of Anna's chair.

She was tracing the words again, he noticed. Did that help her with the letters?

“Anna.”

She waved a hand slightly in a distracted, shooing motion that made him smile faintly. She knew he was there, she just was more focused on the book; at least he wasn't in danger of being hit with it for startling her. Gently he caught her hand before she could drop it back to the pages, placing a kiss on her palm, then pulling her arm slightly to place another on her wrist. Light kisses, nothing too intimate to them; he wanted her attention, not to start something he wouldn't be able to finish for a few hours.

...not that it wasn't tempting.

She jolted a little, and looked up a flush coating her cheeks. When she tugged her hand free meekly, he let her, then leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“You've worried Sypha,” he scolded gently. “Are you all right?”

Anna looked around, but her small pad of paper and charcoal weren't in evidence. After a moment, Adrian pulled open one of the narrow drawers on the desk, where more such things were stored, and smiled a little at the relief she exuded even as she picked them up and started carefully writing. It would probably never be as easy or as graceful as his mother's, or even Sypha's—the less said about Trevor's scrawl, the better, really—but for someone who'd only started learning how to both read and write under two months ago, she had come far remarkably fast.

_Too much people. Then Sypha left._

“Too many people,” he corrected absently, chuckling slightly as she made a face at him, then wrote in the correct word. “Sypha went to fetch you both some lunch. Didn't she say?”

_Needle lady was too loud and bossy._

“Ah. Yes, the seamstress can be a bit much. She is also quite good at her job, however, so we put up with it.”

Anna looked up at him, then wilted a little.

_Do I have to?_

“Afraid so, darling. I know you don't approve of having so many clothes, but it is, unfortunately, one of those things that will be expected of you. But if you don't object, I could replace Sypha this afternoon. I'll wade through paperwork while you finish your fittings. We can let Sypha and Trevor have the rest of the day together.”

She sighed a little, though her cheeks had gone pleasingly pink when he'd called her darling. He was going to have to do that more often.

_Do we have to sit at high table tonight?_

“I should at least make an appearance for the sake of formality, but if you'll promise not to sneak off again,” and he grinned as she blushed, pushing at him a little, “I'll leave quickly and we can have a private meal in your rooms.”

Anna's expression went pensive.

_Is that safe? I don't think your courtiers like how much time you're spending with me..._

“Anna, you're my fiancee, regardless of whether we announce it tonight or at the fete,” he said gently. “They're just going to have to get used to it. Because now that I have your permission...”

Adrian smiled a little, then leaned in and kissed her softly. She went briefly still in surprise, then relaxed, kissing shyly back; she was definitely getting better at it, and perhaps this evening, if they bother weren't worn out from the day...

He pulled back slightly, then nuzzled softly.

“I intend to do that quite a bit more,” he finished huskily. “Because it's not rumor any more, it's fact. I _am_ going to marry you, darling.” Then he paused. “Or rather, I am if you want me to.”

She blinked, then giggled her silent giggles, and reached up to brush her fingers over his cheek. When she very gently tugged at his hair, he obliged, and leaned in to kiss her again.

-

If dealing with the seamstress and her assistants hadn't been so tiring, Anna might very well have paced the room while waiting for Adrian to return. She was... excited. Yes, that was the right word. Excited for him to come back, eager and curious to see just what it was he'd planned to show her the previous evening before her confession had derailed the entire event.

Not that she was complaining too much; Adrian had the right to know, to make an informed choice. And the sleep pile had been _amazingly_ comforting. That both Trevor and Sypha hadn't been angry about it, well, that was an unexpected bonus for certain... she really didn't want to lose their friendship either.

She was worn out enough from the events of the day—how could five people be more exhausting than a crowd?—that by the time a knock came to her door, she was dozing. It startled her enough that she fumbled for something to throw, and ended up falling off the couch even as the door was opened.

Adrian preceded several servants with trays, and thankfully didn't laugh when he saw her tangled up in the blanket, half-off the couch. He _was_ clearly fighting a smile as he came over to help her up, directing the servants with an easy wave to put the trays on the table near the fireplace.

“That took longer than I meant for it too, I apologize. I had to talk to Trevor and Sypha first, and then dodge around the visiting princess,” he said as he helped her sit back on the couch and kissed her forehead. “I was also reminded that I had to pass on a question to you from my mother.”

The servants hesitated, then bowed when Adrian gently waved them off, closing the door behind them firmly. Anna leaned on Adrian shyly as he wrapped an arm comfortably around her shoulders, nuzzling gently, then poked him.

“Ah. Right. Mother thinks the examination done by the doctor at the seaside was a bit... shall we say, hamfisted. Given that you yourself kicked him and all...”

Anna blushed, then stuck her tongue out at him, making him grin and kiss the tip of her nose. That just made her blush more, and she pushed at him gently.

“All right, all right, I won't tease. Anyways, Mother is a doctor herself, as I'm sure I've told you before, and she wanted to give you an examination herself.” Adrian was quiet for a moment, then leaned his head lightly against hers. “I did tell her this morning that you were... uncertain about fertility. Personally, I don't mind if we have to adopt children,” and he grinned a little, “we could probably adopt from Sypha once she and Trevor start having children~ oof!”

Anna huffed at him, then removed her elbow from his ribs and found her paper.

_Be nice. Also, what's adoption?_

“When a child is given up by their parents for... well, a variety of reasons, to another family. There's also orphans and orphanages scattered around. Nobility will also do something similar, though not identical, that's called fostering. Fostering usually ends with the noble child going back home having learned from their foster family. Is that not done for you?”

_I don't think so... maybe? I don't really remember much about my time before I was apprenticed to my teacher. I lived mostly with her, and didn't really interact with others outside of watching them bargain with Atissa... when I was allowed to watch the bargains, anyways._

“These bargains.... What did they usually entail?”

Anna frowned thoughtfully, accepting the small plate of food Adrian handed to her.

_No two bargains are identical,_ she wrote finally. _One person might want to improve their physical form to attract mates, another wants to have a family. You come to the sea witch to bargain, and if you can give something equal to the spell, Atissa will give it._

“And you would have done that eventually?”

She shrugged.

_I wasn't really adept with potions, but that's a skill to learn, not a trait to inherit,_ she replied. _If I hadn't saved you... yes, probably. It's not really a_

She frowned thoughtfully, then nibbled at a pastry, trying to think of the right way to explain it.

_As long as a sea witch doesn't cross the lines into cruelty, asking for more than the people can give, we're tolerated living at the edge of things. It's isolated, but we're not alone. Atissa's even liked, I think. By the sea queen._

“You have kings and queens too?”

Anna giggled silently, nodding.

_We're not so different, really. But I think it's better for both sides if we try to leave one another alone. _

“That's fair,” and Adrian nodded slightly. “We have enough troubles dealing with people of different skin colors up here. Another species entirely might make humans go mad trying to get rid of them.”

That made Anna shudder a little, and he hugged her gently. She leaned into the hug, stifling a small yawn as his fingers stroked softly through her hair. His touch really was so wonderfully soothing...

“...getting back to the original topic, would you be willing to let my mother examine you? I can guarantee she'll be gentler and much less... intrusive than the other doctor was.”

She thought about it for a moment, then half-shrugged.

_There's nothing really to be done about the pain_, she pointed out. _It's just part and parcel of the transformation. I'm pretty sure it'll never go away._

“You would know,” he said after a moment. “But would you be willing to let her check anyways? There may be was to make it a little easier, that we haven't thought of.”

After a moment, and another stifled yawn, she nodded. It didn't _bother_ her to let the queen conduct an exam, she just wasn't sure it would be very fruitful for anyone.

_Do they know?_

“I told them you were formerly a mermaid, yes, and that you were the one who saved me. Father was... a _bit_ skeptical, but with all his books and knowledge, he's at least seen references of the sort, so I don't think _he_ thinks you're mad. Mother floated the idea that the transformation might be the reason for the pain, as your spine,” and he lightly ran a hand down her back, the intimacy of the touch making her shiver slightly, “wasn't originally like this, and compressing it so that you could have legs might be what's causing the issues. Also, I think she just wants to sit down and have a good conversation with you.”

Adrian chuckled softly, and leaned his head against hers again for a moment.

“Though I think I will tell her to wait a few days,” he murmured, gently kissing her temple. “Because I still have things I want to show you.”

A shiver ran up her spine at the huskiness of his voice.

“...if you're up for it,” he added after a moment. “Between last night and this day... if you're too tired, or just want to be held...”

Tentatively, loosely, Anna curled her arms around him, considering his words; she _was_ tired. She'd fallen asleep while waiting for him, which probably said quite a bit. It had only been a doze, but still...

She felt more than heard Adrian's soft laugh, and he pulled her close, kissing the top of her head.

“You're practically asleep right now,” he said, voice warm and filled with amusement. “Do you want to try sleeping on the bed again, or do you still like the couch better?”

This time she didn't try to hide the yawn, and snuggled closer with a small shrug. He'd indulged her more than enough with sleeping on the couch, the two of them tucked tight; if he wanted to sleep in the bed, she wasn't going to protest.

He moved the paper and charcoal off her lap, then picked her up gently.

“To bed, then.”

She just nodded, tucking her head against his shoulder; now that she was admitting to it, weariness washed over her like a wave, and she was quite willing to let him carry her, have him drop her gently onto the too-soft bed, and then curl into him when he joined her. His hands stroked her hair softly, then her face as he dropped gentle kisses onto her skin before he tucked the balnkets around them both.

-

Adrian smiled drowsily down at Anna's sleeping face as dawn touched the skies outside the windows. The freckles that patterned her coppery skin, the way her curly hair splayed across the bed, the loose fist wrapped in his sleeping shirt... The only way the morning could have begun any better would have been to have Trevor and Sypha there again.

Then again, considering the less than chaste things he was considering doing, perhaps it was better that they were both elsewhere. Likely Trevor's rooms, assuming Trevor hadn't decided to go back into the city with Sypha for the night. It _did_ happen occasionally.

He shook his head lightly, then gave in to impulse and pressed a soft kiss to Anna's forehead. Not enough to wake her, no; just letting her know that he was there, and he loved her.

She responded by curling closer, tucking more comfortably up against him, hand briefly tightening in the loose fabric of his shirt. Softly he stroked her hair, letting his fingers tangle loosely in the curls and coils and she sighed, stirring a little.

Given that she was going to need all the sleep she could get, he was loathe to wake her up, even by accident. She wasn't going to have to deal with the seamstress again for at least a week, but there were other appointments to be made, and other lessons she was going to have to start learning. While he didn't anticipate his father abdicating any time soon—a fact for which he was honestly grateful—Anna's position as princess-consort and potential future queen did mean that she was going to have to learn so much more than just reading and writing.

He stilled his fingers, but her eyes were already fluttering, and she blinked awake after a few moments more, turning her head a little to look up at him.

“...sorry,” he murmured. “Didn't mean to wake you.”

She half-smiled, then yawned and snuggled against him more thoroughly. Adrian wrapped his arm a little more tightly, and kissed her forehead lightly again. He didn't necessarily want to let the moment come to an end, really...

Very lightly, she tugged at his shirt, and he looked down curiously. There was a moment of hesitation, then she pressed a quick, shy kiss to his mouth. Nothing loathe, he kissed back, letting his fingers trail lightly over her face.

When he started to pull back, she shook her head a little, and kissed him again. It was less tentative this time, and her fingers crept up to delicately brush over his cheek. Adrian had to smile, shifting a little to make it a bit easier to continue the kiss.

“...am I to take this as you suggesting we should... perhaps be unavailable for a while?” he murmured, which she drew back a little. “Because I am certainly not opposed to this idea.”

She had already been blushing a little, and he half-thought it was because she wasn't actually the bold type. Watching the color spread a bit further made him grin slowly, and kiss the tip of her nose; she was just too damn _cute_ at times.

He still waited for that shy nod before he kissed her again, slow and languorous. No experience meant that he most certainly didn't want to rush through any step, no matter how eager he might be to see her lost in a delightful haze.

So he kept it slow. Gentle. Little feathery kisses that ghosted over her freckles and made her giggle silently as his hand trailed delicately over her side, down to her hip and back up, softly teasing the fabric of the nightgown upwards with each little caress. Her hands mimicked his after a minute, delicate and uncertain; he nuzzled at her softly, then shifted a little so that he could press soft kisses to her neck.

It wasn't going to be the way it was with Trevor or Sypha; Anna's lack of voice meant he didn't get to hear the usual indications of pleasure, or snarls to hurry up and get on with it already. He was going to have to pay greater attention to her body language, and the way her breath caught...

He nipped her neck lightly and she drew in a breath, fingers curling in his shirt. He paused for a moment, but when she gave him a soft nuzzle, very lightly did it again. The shiver that slipped through her made him smile, and he pressed a soft kiss to her skin, trailing down the curve of her neck to the fabric of the nightgown, then back up.

Keeping the movements soft and careful, he continued to tease the nightgown up bit by bit until she surprised him by pulling it off without being prompted, huffing a little bit at him as she did so. Adrian couldn't help but chuckle as she flicked the garment impatiently to the side, though he was certainly not slow in emulating her. Clearly modesty was not a thing, and she only looked appreciative, not embarrassed, when his own clothes joined hers.

“...you're all right with letting me touch you?” he asked softly. When she nodded, tipping her head curiously, he half-smiled. “Let me know if you don't like anything I do, all right?”

Anna nodded again, and let him tug her closer, shivering a little as his hands moved over her skin. His touches were soft and slow, and the kissing resumed after a moment more, though there was somehow... more to it. He was pressing a little harder, pushing in a bit more....

As his fingers stroked along the swell of her breasts, she found herself pushing into the touch, wanting more. Letting her own hands slide across his skin less tentatively, trying to understand what it was he was showing her, and shivered hard as his fingers tweaked her nipples.

“Stop?” he murmured, hands stilling.

She shook her head, leaning a little more into his hands. She liked what he was doing, and wanted him to continue. He did after a moment, though he shifted his position a bit. Slowly, teasingly, he got her to lay back on the pillows, and his mouth trailed over her neck, giving small kisses and little nips as his hands continued to gently tweak and stroke her breasts.

She caught her breath again in surprise as Adrian's mouth moved down, his lips trailing over her skin until he was suckling softly on one of her breasts. Little darts of... what was it? Pleasure? Whatever it was, it made her feel warm and flushed, and there was a soft ache at the point between her legs.

Adrian looked up to make sure he wasn't moving too fast, and smirked just a little as he used his teeth to gently tweak her nipple, earning a small jolt. Her face was relaxed, curiosity mixing with pleasure, her green eyes darkening with the desire that he was building up with painstaking deliberation. Her breath caught again as he switched his mouth to her other breast, and slowly let one hand trail down her stomach.

Gently, carefully, aware of her shuddering breathes, he slipped his fingers down over her stomach, and through the curls over her labia. She gasped as he slid a finger between the slick folds, tracing a soft line across sensitive skin, and shuddered as his soft strokes made the darts of pleasure stronger.

He shifted gently, leaning up to press another kiss to her mouth.

“...I'm going to slip a finger in,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to first one corner of her mouth, then the other as she panted and shivered. “Tell me if it's uncomfortable.”

She nodded, though he wasn't entirely sure she'd heard him. Gently, with as much care as he could manage, he slid a finger into her vagina. Anna startled, eyes going wide, and she wrapped around him, pressing her face into his shoulder. When he started to pull his finger out she shook her head, and just tightened her grip on him. Adrian held still, waiting as patiently as he could until Anna tentatively, timidly, pressed her mouth against his collarbone.

“You don't want me to stop,” he hazarded.

She nodded. Hesitated. Shook her head with a small frown. Adrian chuckled a little, and nuzzled into her hair.

“You want me to keep going?”

That got him a firm nod. Anna's grip eased a little, enough so that she could look up into his face. He gently pressed his forehead against hers, nuzzling softly.

“It's all right,” he murmured. “We can take it in stages if you're feeling overwhelmed. I want to give you _pleasure_, not overload you.”

She shook her head a little, and her hands came around to cup his face so she could kiss him. She didn't want him to stop. She hadn't _expected_ that feeling, but it wasn't a bad feeling either. She wanted to see where it led, what he was going to show her...

The kisses seemed to convince him; he eased her back down onto the bed, and slowly started to pump his finger. Anna shuddered as the feeling built, then again as his mouth moved from hers to trailed back down along her skin. He nipped her breasts softly as she panted for breath, then his mouth continued lower, reminding her that he had indeed said he intended to kiss her _everywhere_.

He paused for a moment to look up at Anna again as he reached her stomach. Her head had come up a bit, and she was watching him though half-lidded eyes, her fingers curled in his hair since that was now all she could reach.

“Comfortable?” he murmured, kissing her stomach lightly. “You want to keep going?”

She nodded without hesitation.

“All right. I'm going to slip in another finger. Pull if it hurts.”

He caught, for a moment a look of uncertainty, even as he shifted his hand gently and slid a second finger in, crooking both gently as he pumped. Her hand tightened briefly in his hair, but he thought it was more because of the shudder it caused than because she was in any sort of pain. Still, he waited for her grip to ease and for her to give him a timid smile before he started moving his fingers again.

Her breath was coming in short pants after a few strokes, and he carefully planted his thumb on the sensitive nub of flesh, rubbing in short, quick circles as he increased the pace of the stroke. When he looked up, Anna's head had fallen back, and he admired the line of her throat briefly, before gently nipping at her stomach again.

She shuddered, her hands in his hair tightening briefly. Without removing his hand from its place between her legs, he slid up again until he could trail kisses over her breasts, until he could kiss the side of her neck, until-

Until she could bite him on the shoulder, a move that startled him, and made him groan softly. That she immediately tried to kiss it apologetically made him groan again, and tip her face until his mouth was on hers, tongue tracing against hers as he pressed a little harder with his thumb.

Pleasure burst in her and she clung to him, holding tightly as he continued to press his fingers inside her, his thumb working little circles and making it hotter, brighter. Her body shuddered, and though she didn't mean too, she ended up biting him again. The sound he made... pleasure of his own, or so she hoped. Whatever it was, he slowed his ministrations as her body continued to shudder, dropping sweet and soft kisses as she gasped for breath and held onto him.

He removed his fingers as she panted for breath, holding her close as her body trembled and shuddered in the throes of her orgasm. As the tension eased out of her, he nuzzled her temple softly, easing her gently back onto the pillows.

“Catch your breath, darling,” he murmured as she curled close to him, nestling her head onto his shoulder. “Let me know... if you'd like more.”

She nodded without opening her eyes, her hands slowly going soft and loose on his back. Her touch sent shivers up his spine, and he sighed softly in contentment as she just gently brushed her fingers along his back. After a few more moments, her eyes opened and she shifted up carefully to kiss him.

“More?” he murmured against her mouth.

Anna nodded.

“All right. Lay back again, let me... show you something similar.”

He ached to be inside her, to know how it would feel to have his penis there instead of his fingers, but he had _something_ of a plan, and damned if he wasn't going to stick to it. When she laid back, her eyes soft and trusting, he couldn't help but smile a little in wonder; how on earth had he managed to find just what he was looking for...?

He pushed the question away and leaned down to feather kisses onto her face, taking delight in those huffs of air that would have been laughter as he kissed her freckles, hearing her breath catch on a laugh as his brought his hands to her breasts again. He knew from experience that it would be easier to get her to come for him a second time, but he still kept his touch gently, kept his attention on the way her body shifted with his hands, the way she pushed up into them.

Felt her jolt as he left hickeys this time, not just kisses as he moved down her neck to her chest, then from her chest to her stomach. Again he trailed one hand down, but this time he parted the lips of her labia with his fingers, and stroked his tongue against the wetness. She jolted, hard, and groped for him; he moved his other hand from her breast to twine his fingers with hers as she shifted to put himself between her legs coaxing her feet up over his shoulders.

She gripped his hand tightly, drawing in a sharp breath as his tongue now penetrated where his fingers had been before. Fist hands, then tongue, she was almost worried to know what he would use next, if she let him.

She was quite sure she would; she certainly didn't want him to _stop_.

She clung to his hand, the other holding tight to the sheet beneath them as he stroked and teased with his tongue, rebuilding the intensity that had only just subsided. With a slight shift, the fingers replaced the tongue, but his mouth was still there, the tip of his tongue now trailing over whatever it was that made this feel so exquisite.

She couldn't help but writhe a bit as he pumped his fingers in her, as his tongue stroked and caressed until the pleasure was all she could feel, all she could acknowledge, and it burst over her again, tightening her whole body.

Adrian rested his head softly on her thigh, teasingly kissing her skin as the shudders washed through her. _Sypha_ would have kicked him by now, but Anna seemed perfectly content to let him do as he pleased.

Well, what he pleased was to bring her pleasure.... possibly even until they were both wrung out with it, and why not? It was going to be a stressful month as they set things in motion, so taking the pleasure while they could... he was certainly not opposed to it.

Her other hand patted around a little, until she managed to find a few strands of his hair, then tugged almost shyly. Adrian obligingly moved up until he was stretched out next to her again, and smiled as she tucked herself against him. He suspected there would be more nights ahead of this... or if not the sex, then at least the naked snuggling; she seemed perfectly at ease without the clothes, which was a bit more than could be said of the other two.

Not that there was anything wrong with the way he enjoyed them as well, it was just rare that they cuddled nude if it _wasn't_ preceded by sex.

Her fingers were tracing along his skin, and after a moment he realized she was making letters. Adrian concentrated briefly, then chuckled a little.

“Already?” and he knew his tone was teasing. “You don't want a few more minutes?”

She shook her head a little, gently poking him in the chest. He flushed a little, pleased; her meaning couldn't have been more clear even if she _hadn't_ followed it up with a kiss.

She wanted him.

He kissed her back, then gently nudged her onto her back. It was not the most adventurous or exciting position, but he wanted to keep things easy. Wanted to watch her face as he eased into her, and feel her legs wrap around him as he did so. Plus, it would help him see how far was to far for this first time... though with it being Anna, and her unexpected-but-delightful stubborn streak, he was not at all certain he'd be the one making that decision.

He wondered what it would be like when Sypha decided to give her advice on pleasing _him_, and decided that was definitely not something to think about right now. Even if it did give him a small, delighted shiver.

He nudged her legs apart a little more, then slipped his hands under her hips, slipping closer. Gently he parted the folds of her labia, and pressed the tip of his penis against the head of her vagina, which was slick and waiting.

“Ready?”

She looked suddenly uncertain, but when he started to pull back she reached down and caught his hands, then nodded. Adrian looked at her face for a long moment, then leaned in and kissed her as he pressed in.

She wrapped around him almost immediately, clinging tight enough that he almost landed on her. She'd made him move faster than he'd meant to as well, and for a moment he worried that he might have hurt her, shifting his hands to either side of her waist in an effort to avoid pinning her between himself and the bed.

But when he would have tried to pull out she shook her head, clinging harder even as she trembled. Instead, Adrian shifted to the side and stroked his hands up her back, keeping his touch soothing over sensual as he murmured soft reassurances. Slowly, her tight grip eased, and she pulled her face from the crook of his neck, leaning back a little with a somewhat sheepish expression.

“I was _trying_,” he said, with resigned amusement, “to go slow so that it wouldn't... hurt. Are you all right?”

Anna nodded, then curled back up against him, feeling a bit sheepish. She hadn't _meant_ to yank him in like that, but she had mostly just... reacted. Something uncomfortable made her want to cling to him, even if the uncomfortable was sort of his fault.

Admittedly, now it was hers too. That _had_ hurt, pulling him flush against her so abruptly. But... now that she'd had a few moments to adjust and... well, relax again, it didn't feel quite as bad. Still not what she would _call_ comfortable, but not as bad as it had been.

“Shall I continue, then?”

Anna nodded again, dropping a shy little kiss on his skin. She felt his soft sigh ruffle her hair, and then he nudged at her gently, until she was on her back again.

“Slow,” he murmured, pulling out a bit, then pressing back in. “Slow and e-easy...”

He caught one of her hands with his, twining their fingers again as he began a slow thrust, watching her face intently... when he wasn't kissing it. His other hand slid down to stroke her clit, making her gasp and push up against him, coaxing her towards being relaxed enough to touch back, to give _him_ small kisses as he continued to move in her.

Adrian's groans of pleasure thrilled her, and she wanted to hear more of them; she ran the fingers of her free hand over his chest, gently teasing his nipples the way he'd teased her, and was rewarded with a breathless chuckle and a kiss that left them both gasping as he changed the pace, pulling out a little farther, then thrusting in a bit more firmly. He teased sensitive skin with his fingers, reducing her coherent thought until all she could focus on was those golden eyes that had darkened with pleasure, the sound of his groans, and the way he felt as he moved a little bit faster, pushing her towards that pleasure filled edge once more.

Anna's legs tightened around his hips again as he pushed her towards her third orgasm, and he pressed his mouth to her neck, biting gently. He felt her jolt, and caught his breath in surprise as she immediately emulated him, groaning with unfeigned desire as she bit him back. Taking that for the encouragement that it was, she did it again, and he pressed his thumb down more firmly on her clit; if she was that focused, he was not being attentive enough.

This time when she bit him, Adrian allowed a hard shudder to pass through him. He did so enjoy being decorated by his lovers, and that she was doing this without prompting... How would she get once she learned more, once Sypha and Trevor both decided to give her tips.

Well, once Trevor stopped making fun of him, anyways...

He slowed a little, but thrust a bit harder, pulling her to the edge of orgasm and then holding her there with the most exquisite of care.

She bit his shoulder for that, and he grinned at her, admiring the flush on her face, the need in her eyes. She got bitey when he teased. Good to know.

But mindful of the fact that it was easy to turn pleasure into pai—and the fact that his own orgasm was quickly approaching—he allowed himself only a few more moments before throwing her over that edge. As her body tightened around him, as she clung to him, he thrust a few more times, then emptied himself inside of her, wrapping around her as much as she clung to him.

She just tucked her head against his shoulder as he rolled carefully to the side, shuddering a little as he briefly moved his hips away from her so that his penis slipped out of her body.

Adrian curled back around her, listening as she caught her breath, and shivering a little as the sweat began to dry on their skin.

“...liked it?” he murmured, nuzzling at her curls.

She nodded, and her fingers curled loosely against his chest.

“Good. We can.... do more later,” Adrian yawned, then nuzzled at her again. “I think I'd like a bit of rest, first, though...”

Anna nodded again, and he felt her small smile even as she closed her eyes. Adrian chuckled a little, then rolled them both over, shifting away from the wet spot that their bodily fluids would have caused, then pulled the blankets back up over them. Oh yes, he could think of plenty more they could do in a few hours...

But first, a nap. Just so that they had the energy for everything he was thinking of.

-

“...bet that hurt,” Sypha said, unable to keep from grinning.

Anna blushed, and rubbed the tip of her nose in embarrassment.

_I panicked._

“Well, don't tell Adrian that. He'll feel guilty,” Sypha advised. “He likes to go slow and tease, if you hadn't noticed. Both because it feels good and because he _likes_ watching. You'll probably end up biting him again for it.”

That made Anna snort a little, even as she blushed harder. Sypha giggled, and patted her shoulder.

“Don't worry, I know _plenty_ of tricks you can use to get back at him~”

_That is both comforting and a little ominous. You know that, right?_

Sypha's grin was pure mischief. Anna wasn't sure she was entirely comforted by it, but it was... nice to have someone to talk to about this.

“He's really a considerate lover though,” Sypha continued with a fond smile. “Not that Trevor is _bad_, but Trevor isn't much for taking his time the way Adrian is.”

Anna tipped her head, somewhere between curious and uncertain. It didn't bother her, the idea of sharing Adrian with them, because he'd agreed to marry _her_, and that was the part the magic was counting on. It did make her wonder, though, what it was like.

_I'll take your word for it._

“Don't worry, we're not going to pull you into anything,” and this time Sypha's smile was gentler, kinder. “Adrian will probably want to keep you to himself for a while anyways, to, ah... _learn_ what you like best. And help you get used to it. It's easier when you're not switching partners.”

That she said it so matter-of-factly was actually quite comforting. She didn't _think_ it was necessarily the norm for humans—not from the way they kept talking about it behind closed doors—but Sypha's straightforward responses helped make it feel a bit less awkward.

“So, the first thing that would help you turn the tables on him is-”

-

Trevor snickered at him mercilessly and Adrian sighed, waiting for him to get it out of his system. While he certainly hadn't _planned_ to say much about it, Trevor had pushed at him until he'd admitted to the various sexual... _accidents_ during the fairly active morning.

“You know that leaving her alone with _Sypha_ is guaranteed to have her trying things next time,” he said with a smirk. “Instead of letting you own the whole mess.”

“I look forward to it,” Adrian replied serenely. “I don't mind her getting experimental. As long as she comfortable with it, letting her have control isn't an issue.”

Trevor snorted a little, shaking his head in amusement.

“At least she's not going to have to suffer the way we all did with fumbling around and trying to figure it out on our own...”

“Small favors,” Adrian said dryly. “I think I prefer the lack of modesty myself. She's more curious than embarrassed by the human body, both mine and hers. I'm half-tempted to find her a book on human anatomy, one of my mother's perhaps, and seeing what she thinks of that.”

“Well, she's a healer, yeah? You can always say its part of her studies to be more effective.”

Adrian snorted, and Trevor grinned.

“Anyways, what's this about a masquerade for midsummer? I thought the old man...”

“Father doesn't approve, but you know he can't turn down a request from Mother when she's being properly charming. I'm not _terribly_ thrilled myself, but,” Adrian shrugged lightly, “given that it will be the engagement party as much as the traditional midsummer event, we've both bowed to the inevitable. Mother is thrilled, and Father won't take that from her.”

Trevor grimaced.

“It's certainly going to make security a bitch,” he grumbled.

“True enough. Masks always cause trouble for someone...” Adrian sighed faintly. “And of course with only three weeks to prepare, tailors and dressmakers are going to be even more busy and brusque. Anna had a hard enough time standing for measurements yesterday for _ordinary_ clothing. A proper ball gown is likely going to take all three of us to keep her calm.”

Trevor snorted, then tipped his head. After a moment he smirked.

“Sypha can stand with her,” he said.

“Sypha is going to murder you for volunteering her,” Adrian replied mildly, amused.

“I mean, she's likely to murder me at some point anyways, might as well give her a better excuse than stalling on the...”

“Why _are_ yous stalling on that? You know she'll say yes, you've gotten permission from Father and her family...”

Trevor went quiet for a moment, looking out over the neatly trimmed hedges of the garden.

“I'm... waiting for something. From the old house,” he said finally. “Most of that's been held in trust for me, you know... but I can't go there, not on my own. So I sent a courier to bring back my mother's old jewelry box. I don't...” he pressed his lips together briefly, and Adrian rested a hand on his shoulder. “It may be there's nothing in it. I don't remember. But... If there is, I'd like to give it to her.”

Adrian wrapped an arm around Trevor's shoulders and hugged him gently.

“I'm sure she'll love it,” he said quietly.

“Assuming there's anything left in there to give, and it wasn't all stolen the day...”

“Well, if it was, I know it can't be replaced, but I'll go with you to commission something,” Adrian said firmly.

“...thanks.”

They sat in silence for a moment, Trevor leaning lightly into Adrian's hug before he sighed and straightened.

“Have you got anything for Anna?”

“I'm trying to decide if I want to give her the ring Mother gave me, or if I want to commission something special,” Adrian admitted. “Something that speaks to her heritage and what she left behind.”

“Still not entirely comfortable with the whole... marry me or I'll die thing. You know?”

“Yes, I know,” And Adrian smiled fondly, squeezing Trevor's shoulder. “If it were anyone _but_ Anna, it would be a pure manipulation tactic... but she's too sincere. She wants me to make an informed decision. Well, I was informed, and I decided to marry her anyways. Not _because_ she'll turn to foam if I don't, but because she fill the part of me that I didn't entirely realize was empty.”

“Ugh,” and Trevor elbowed him lightly. “Don't get sappy on me, all right? It's bad enough you're making eyes at her when you think no one's _looking_.”

Adrian grinned.

“Oh, I am well aware that people are looking,” he retorted in amusement. “I'm not going to stop because they are, and I don't have to be restrained now that she's my fiancee.”

“You're just going to rub that snooty princess's nose in it, huh?”

“Unless you can think of a _better_ way for her to leave me alone?”

Trevor half-shrugged, shaking his head.

“Nah, but I don't think openly kissing Anna is going to make her back off. She's got that... she's that _type_, y'know? Spoiled rotten, certain that if she wants something, she'll get it. Heard her bragging the other day that you were too flustered by your own feelings to be seen with her in public. It was all I could do to avoid snapping at her when she tried to say that she was the reason you were rescued.”

Adrian sighed, and shook his head lightly.

“There's not too much we can do about it right now, but Father says he'll work on convincing her that she's overstayed her welcome without actively throwing her out. We don't want to start a war, after all, just convince her to go home and torment people there.”

“Why do I think that's going to take you _actually_ getting married?” Trevor asked dryly.

“Because you're probably not wrong,” and he sighed again. “...let's go interrupt whatever terrifying conversation Sypha's having with Anna and break the news that they're going to both stand for ball gowns, shall we?”

“You just want a cuddle.”

“And you don't?”

“I want something more _fun_ than a cuddle~”

He shoved Trevor gently, fondly, and got to his feet.

“We'll see,” he said genially. “But for now, we might as well make pests of ourselves before we run out of the free time to do so.”

Trevor snickered, wrapped an arm around Adrian's shoulders, and they started back towards the palace.

-

_I am not having fun_.

“I know, I know,” Adrian murmured soothingly, placing his hand over hers. “I'm sorry, I didn't think it would get so... extreme.”

Anna huffed, and crossed her arms in a sulk.

It had been four days since his proposal, and somehow, it was no longer secret. Initially, Anna hadn't cared; people had stared, and whispered, and that was their issue to deal with. But now it was getting exhausting to step into a room and have all conversation fade in a wave outward from where she stood, only to resume in more hushed tones that vanished as she walked—or rolled, she rather liked Lisa's wheeled chair for when she didn't have to fight with stairs—carefully by.

Some people were polite; perhaps not nice, or kind, but they managed polite. Others thought it was some great joke, though they never said it where Adrian could hear. She had to weather those comments alone, and she kept them, and the hurt they caused, to herself. Many ladies of the court were less than pleasant, and quite frankly, a few were absolutely _incensed_ that someone with no surname and no official title was going to ascend to being a princess.

Adrian wrapped his arms around her and snuggled her close, making her sigh a little; it wasn't fair to take it out on him, not really. It wasn't his fault that it had come out...

“We could go throw pillows at Trevor? I'm sure he and Sypha aren't doing anything yet that would be too embarrassing to interrupt.”

She huffed a little, feeling the tug of a smile at her mouth despite her grumpy mood. While she was almost positive he'd been joking, there was a small bit of her that knew if she took it seriously, he'd certainly go along with it.

Maybe that was why it was easier to shake her head and sigh, let go of the frustration. It was as much Adrian's fault as Trevor's, but being mad at one and not the other was unfair. And since she couldn't really hold on to being upset _anyways_, it was better to just let it flow awy.

“I _am_ sorry,” he said, nuzzling the top of her head gently. “I should have been more circumspect about where we were talking about it. I was.....”

_It's all right. There's no point in being upset. It's happened. We just ride out he wave._

She felt his smile as he pressed a kiss to her temple, and she nestled back against his chest until she could tuck her head under his chin.

“Wise already,” he teased gently. “You're certain you don't mind starting the lessons early?”

_Early, or appointed time_, she shrugged. _If it'll keep me away from people while you're busy doing_

She frowned a little.

“Damage control?” Adrian suggested with resigned humor.

_Yes. That. It's probably a good idea. Learning sooner rather than later about the people we're to govern eventually is probably better in the long run. Since I _don't_ have the human decades and all that._

He chuckled softly, and his arms tightened in a fond hug. She smiled and tipped her head back a bit to kiss his chin.

“Mother said that if you'd like to come out with her next week when she goes to visit her patients, she'd be happy to show you what she does. It's not the same work as your magic-”

_Which I'm still growing into._

“True. Healing is a rare enough gift that a teacher would be harder to find, so a doctor will have to do.”

_And she's going to be... mother by law?_

“Mother _in_ law, but that was close. I'm sure she and Father both wouldn't mind if you called them that, since your own are... Ah...”

She giggled silently and shifted to kiss his cheek. Adrian's smile was rueful and he snuggled her gently.

“Sorry. Trevor's in the same boat, so I try not to bring up parents if I can avoid it.”

_Do you think he'll tell me the story? Like he said he might?_

“...maybe. It's not a very happy story, though, and I don't blame him for not wanting to relive it more than he has too...”

Adrian sighed a little, and Anna nodded in silent understanding. Bad memories stuck hard to humans, she'd noticed, and informed many decisions they made as they grew older. Sometimes these bad memories led humans to wise choices, and other times to painful ones that just hurt them further. It certainly helped her see why humans could be both so fascinating and confusing all at the same time...

_I won't ask then. If he wants to tell me, he can, and if he doesn't, that's okay too. I don't want to make a friend sad._

“Heh. I'm sure he'll appreciate that,” and Adrian kissed her cheek. “As well as being called your friend.”

_Might still hit him with a pillow, though. Get Sypha in on it, ambush you two._

He laughed and nuzzled at her neck, pressing a small kiss to her skin that made her sigh softly with delight.

“I'm sure it'll end about as well as you think it might,” he teased.

She grinned and kissed the tip of his nose.

-

“You know, I was expecting a lot more backlash,” Trevor said as he lounged idly on the couch in Adrian's receiving room. “But the past couple of weeks have been... really damn quiet.”

“Mmm... I'd be worried, but I suspect things will blow up tonight. Rumors will be _confirmed_ after all,” Adrian replied as he buttoned his vest. “Are you still planning to propose yourself tonight?”

“...yeah, if you're still okay with it.”

Adrian shrugged lightly and chuckled.

“No disrespect meant, Trevor, but there's not much you could do to overshadow mine. The fete is practically _for_ the engagement at this point.”

“True enough,” and Trevor grimaced slightly. “Do you think anyone's going to be really surprised, though?”

Adrian sighed a little, picking up the mask from the small table, then shrugged.

“Princess Adelaide is still, from what I've heard, utterly convinced that this will be about her and myself. Despite the fact that, while not learning what she needs to to be an effective princess, Anna has been glued to my side.”

“And you've been kissing her,” Trevor grinned.

That made Adrian smile.

“It helps that she's not embarrassed to kiss enthusiastically in public,” he said with a slight smirk. “And also that she doesn't entirely understand the statement it makes.”

“....I think she both understands and it making her own statement. _You're_ not the one who had to pull her off Adelaide last week.”

Adrian grimaced a little, then sighed.

“She never did tell me what set her off; I never would have expected her to attack someone like that...”

Not that Adelaide probably hadn't deserved it...

“Didn't tell me either, but Sypha got a little out of her.... I think the gist of it was that she was insulting me, Sypha, or both, Anna didn't really clarify. And since the princess wouldn't take the time to read Anna's words, Anna decided that she was just going to have to get rude.”

Adrian snorted. Rude was not exactly the way _he_ would have put it, but then, he'd gotten all the news secondhand from Trevor, who _also_ didn't possess all the details.

“I bet she's still got a bruise on her face too,” and Trevor sounded more smug than sympathetic. “Though I doubt we'll get to see it, between the makeup and the mask she's probably going to be wearing...”

“Are we still talking about Adelaide?”

“Well, _Anna's_ not bruised. The princess was too stunned about being slapped, remember?”

Adrian grimaced again; he certainly remembered the aftermath, and the way Anna refused to apologize. Granted, he hadn't pushed her very _hard_ on giving an apology, not with the way she'd been glaring, but it was still something he was going to have to talk her into doing at _some_ point.

“Look, worry about the political fallout later,” Trevor advised, giving Adrian's shoulder a gentle whack. “Engagement party first, food, fun, and dancing.”

He sighed, then picked up the mask, and made a small face at it.

“Why did Father agree to this again?” he muttered as Trevor tied the strings carefully.

“Because your old man can't say no to your mom any more than you can actually say no to Anna,” was the cheerful reply.

“...I'd hit you if you weren't right.”

Trevor snickered as Adrian adjusted the dramatic sweep of his cloak; while he had to admit that he was impressed with the speed at which the costume had been tailored, he wasn't entirely sure the peacock theme really suited him. It was going to be difficult to repurpose the outfit after the event with all the meticulous stitching and beading that had gone into it...

“And just think, Anna and Sypha are waiting for us to escort them,” Trevor said as he leaned lightly on Adrian's shoulders. “We've got the loveliest ladies in the palace.”

He elbowed his friend off gently, wondering how Anna would look in her gown.

“Do you think they're even ready yet?” he asked.

“Only one way to find out.”

-

“Anna, it's not going to hurt you. It's just part of the masquerade. It's not a masquerade if we're not wearing masks.”

Anna pressed her lips together tightly, shaking her head firmly. She had submitted to the ear piercing for the earrings. She had put up with the hours of costume fitting, and pushes for her opinion on the gown's colors and designs, despite knowing nothing about fashion. She was wearing more jewelry than she knew what to do with, and her hair had been styled and stabbed with so many jeweled pins, it was a wonder her scalp wasn't bleeding.

And they expected her to put something elaborate and flashy on her face to top it all off?

Sypha sighed patiently.

“Adrian will be wearing one too,” she pointed out. “Everyone will. That's part of the fun.”

_Fun for you, maybe. I don't like not knowing who's talking to me. I don't want to wear it._

Something about the masks felt off, uncomfortable and unwelcoming. Like if she put it on, everything was going to fall apart, and...

And she couldn't say this to Sypha. It would sound sill, paranoid. It _was_ silly and paranoid, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the mask was going to betray her somehow.

“....would you feel better if you could hold it, instead of having it tied to your face?” Sypha asked after a moment. “We can attach it to a stick instead.”

That wasn't much better, but maybe not having it on her face, smothering her...

“Ooo, I know~”

Sypha bustled quickly over to the vanity where the maids had left jars of powders and paints, the makeup that had already been applied just in case there needed to be a touchup before their escorts arrived. She beckoned Anna over, and with reluctance, Anna went, careful of the skirts as she sat on the padded bench. Sypha quickly wrapped a cloth around her neck to prevent anything from spilling onto the dress, used another cloth to wipe some of the already applied powder and paint off, then started adding something new to Anna's face.

She was between Anna and the mirror, so Anna couldn't see exactly what she was doing until she moved away, but when she did, she couldn't help but blink.

_I didn't have scales on my face_...

“No one else is going to know that,” Sypha pointed out practically. “And it conforms to the theme of the gown and the masquerade without you actually having to wear the mask. Isn't that better?”

More to make Sypha happy than because she felt better, she nodded. Sypha seemed pleased with herself, and Anna didn't want to say that she'd completely missed the point.

Then again, it was hard to figure out what the point even _was_. She just had a bad feeling about this whole event... Not that there was much she could _do_ about the event, since not attending would be a slight to everyone, especially Adrian. But she wished there was some way she could get out of going. Or leave early. _Something_.

“It'll be all right Anna,” Sypha said as she affixed the dreaded mask to a long, thin stick. “You'll see.”

A knock at the door forestalled anything Anna might attempt to write, and Sypha passed her the mask as she went to open it. Adrian and Trevor stepped in, then bowed, and Anna felt her heart lurch; if she hadn't known that they would be the only ones who'd come to the suite, she would have been inclined to panic and hide away.

Adrian's mask covered half his face and a good portion of his hair with peacock feathers, rendering him nearly unrecognizable. Only the fair hair that cascaded over his cloak, loose and shining, was in any way familiar. His cloak was a riot of blue and green thread and tiny gemstones embroidered in the shape of feathers, and the black suit beneath was no less elaborate, festooned with jet beads that added sparkle and shine where gleaming gold braid was not.

Trevor's costume and mask were simpler. His cloak was crested with a large fur ruff, cut more to flare dramatically than to keep him warm. Like Adrian, his cloak and shirt were embroidered to suggest feathers, though Trevor's were emblematic of a hawk, not the fanciful peacock, and though he also had feathers on his mask, they were short and simple.

It didn't make her feel any better.

“Oh, you both look wonderful!” Sypha explained, bouncing eagerly on her toes. “Don't they look just amazing, Anna?”

Anna shifted on the padded stool, looked away, then nodded more to acknowledge that she'd seen them than agreeing with Sypha's excited assessment.

“You don't look half-bad yourself,” Trevor said with a grin that Anna heard more than she saw. “What's with the facepaint, though?”

“Anna doesn't like the mask. So I thought this would be a good alternative,” Sypha replied. “It's not perfect, I only just had the idea, but she refused to put the mask on in the first place...”

Anna heard footsteps approach, and then Adrian was at her side, kneeling down to see her face. He'd pushed the mask up, no doubt ruining the fall of his hair, but seeing _him_...

Anna's hand reached up and touched his cheek, silently pleading for him to keep the mask off.

“It's all right,” he said gently. “People will take off and put on the masks all night as they get too hot, or find close friends. You could start a trend of your own, wearing facepaint instead of a mask, actually.”

His tone was coaxing and soft, trying, she knew, to make her less afraid. How could she explain that it was the masks themselves that were frightening her, without sounding childish? How could she say that tonight, the masks felt _sinister_, without really knowing why they did? She couldn't give any of them a good reason....

Better to stay quiet.

So she smiled weakly, and let him take her hand, helping her to her feet.

“You look wonderful too,” he said after a moment. “I'll have to give the seamstresses a bonus.”

She looked down at her own gown and gave an uncertain shrug. The scale patterning in the skirt _was_ pretty, picked out in gold thread on the green fabric, and highlighted here and there by strategically placed glittering beads.

It made her briefly, abruptly, homesick, and she turned her gaze back up to Adrian's familiar face instead, doing her best to hide the dismay as he reached up and pulled his mask back down.

Sypha was dressed similar to Anna, having made the joke about a mermaid princess needing a handmaiden. Anna had wanted to refute that, but she'd never been _near_ the undersea court, and didn't know if that was really how it worked. Her gown was much less elaborate, being a simpler deep blue with silver scale patterning that rather suited her.

If it hadn't been for the damn masks, Anna could even have enjoyed the pretty clothing. Not as something to wear regularly, the way Princess Adelaide did, but just for the fact that it was pretty.

Adrian held her mask loosely in his other hand, and she eyed it with trepidation.

“It's all right,” he said with a small smile. “I won't insist you wear it if you truly don't want to. We'll just take it for forms' sake, all right?”

She sighed, then nodded. She was going to be at a distinct disadvantage for the evening, as the gown had no pockets in which she could carry paper or charcoal, which also left her feeling uncomfortable. How was she supposed to do anything without her writing things? Relying on Trevor, Adrian, and Sypha the whole night didn't really seem... _fair_...

But before she could try and indicate it, the chiming bells of the nearby church rang the hour.

“Time to go,” Trevor said.

Anna's stomach clenched, and she clung to Adrian's arm.

Time to go.

-

Adrian looked around the ballroom and muttered a few choice words under his breath; it was absolutely _packed_, and he was going to have to announce his decision to marry Anna to all of them? Maybe it _would_ have been better to just announce it by herald, the way Trevor had suggested two weeks ago. At least then he and Anna wouldn't have been facing down a sea of masked faces...

He glanced down at Anna, who was still holding tightly to his arm despite the fact that they were seating between his parent's thrones at the head of the ballroom. She'd gotten the hang of keeping a polite expression on her face, but something was _severely_ bothering her, and had been even before they'd gotten to her rooms. More, he thought, than Sypha's explanation of nerves, so what hadn't she tried to say anything?

Her mask was tucked neatly between himself and her chair, and he glanced down at it, at the glimmering green velvet with its gold scale pattern painstakingly sewn on, and wondered what it was about the masks that was upsetting her.

After a moment, he gently laid his free hand over one of hers, making her jump even as she turned to look at him. For a heartbeat he saw the flare of panic she she saw the mask before anything else, and he quickly lifted a hand to push it up, watching the relief that followed. It was _definitely_ the masks she was having trouble with, though he couldn't understand why...

“It's almost time for the declaration,” he said softly. “Are you ready for it?”

Her smile was half-hearted at best, and her shrug a bit lackluster.

“....is it... are you upset?” he finally asked. “Did I perhaps do something wrong?”

She shook her head quickly, and leaned up to give him a small kiss, which he was quite happy to return.

“Then what is it?” he pressed softly.

She made a slight face, and scribbled slightly at the air, then shrugged at him.

“...ah. That does make it harder...”

He frowned a little, then sighed.

“Will you tell me after, then? If you can.”

Anna looked uneasy, but nodded after a moment, and he brought a hand up to her face, careful to miss Sypha's facepaint job even as he gave her a lingering, soft kiss. He could feel her trembling as she returned it, and his concern sharpened. He had wanted this to be a _fun_ event, but she was afraid of _something..._

“We'll go out into the garden after we've been congratulated,” he said softly. “Would you like that?”

She nodded, but the way she held herself suggested she wasn't actually _listening_. Where, he wondered, had she gone in a bid to cope with all of the stimulus? And how was he going to pull her back?

On one side of the room, the orchestra had begun tuning; the first dance would start soon, and Adrian let out a slow breath as his father stood to speak to the assembled nobles.

“You may thank my darling wife for the fete decision,” he said, amusement in his deep voice as he took his queen's hand and bowed to her. Adrian didn't need to see his parent's faces to know they were smiling at one another, and a ripple of chuckles pattered through the crowd. “As we reach the height of summer, we are grateful for the bounty given to us by those we work to protect, and for the lives that will be joined by engagements or marriage this eve over the many bonfires of the celebration. To that end, we also have our own announcement.”

Adrian took a breath and pulled his mask down, then stood, and brought Anna with him. She curled her arms around his and rested her head on his upper arm, heedless of the fact that it might smear the facepaint on her cheek. Since he figured she needed the contact, he didn't whisper a reminder of this, just folding his other hand onto hers as they faced the assembled crowd.

“A few months back, I was shipwrecked on my birthday,” he said, pitching his voice to be heard all the way to the back without shouting. “I was rescued and brought to shore, and while I am not prone to dramatic promises, I thought I might consider offering to wed the person who rescued me, if she would but come forward.”

He glanced over the crowd, and suddenly thought he might understand Anna's discomfort; he could recognize no faces behind those masks, and had no way of knowing which one was Adelaide, about to have all her hopes dashed.

“However,” he continued, “not long after, I encountered someone else who required rescuing, and while we have only known one another for a few months, I have found that she is a wise, considerate young woman, and while I remain eternally grateful to whoever ensured my survival, I can only offer my thanks, as I have chosen to marry the woman who stands beside me. To that end, I introduce to you my future bride.”

Very gently he nudged Anna forward, and though her steps were reluctant, she obligingly did so.

“My princess, Anna.”

She knew what to do here, at least, and though he could feel her hand trembling in his, she smiled at the nobles, and swept a curtsy that was exceptionally graceful with all the practice she'd put into it.

The applause was slow to start, but once it did, the noise was quick to ring from the rafters. Anna flinched and stepped back against him, allowing him to slide an arm around her waist.

“Breathe,” he murmured in her ear. “We're almost done, darling.”

From the orchestra came the opening bars of the waltz, and Adrian glanced to his father, who nodded. The four of them stepped onto the ballroom floor, and the opening dance began.

-

The garden was cool and comfortable after the stifling heat and noise of the ballroom, and Anna leaned her head on Adrian's arms, trying not to gulp at the midsummer night air. Gently his hand rubbed little circles on her back as they walked through sleeping gardens, much like many other couples and groups were doing.

“You see?” he said gently. “Wasn't so bad.”

She gave him a sour look and he chuckled a little, kissing her forehead.

“All right, all right, maybe it was a bit much. But we're outside now. Do you need to sit down and rest a bit? We could find Trevor and Sypha if that would help.”

Anna considered for a moment, then just leaned her head against his shoulder. She'd feel better if he took the mask off, honestly, and reached up to tug at it briefly.

“Ah. All right.”

He slid it up, and she let out a small breath of relief. Objectively, the masks were all impressive, beautiful works of art, things she'd only seen bits and pieces of as they didn't last long under the ocean. But she didn't like being unable to see his face, didn't like not knowing which of these masks could hide someone who didn't like her and wanted to cause either of them harm.

“We'll impress on Mother that masquerades really aren't anyone's thing after we've had a chance to recover,” he said with a small, warm smile. “Truthfully, Father doesn't much care for them either, but you've seen how he gets with Mother asks for something.”

Anna nodded; at this point she'd had several private meals with the royal couple, and plenty of time to witness the way Vlad doted on his small wife. It was, in fact, much the way Adrian doted on her, and she did appreciate this fact.

“Admittedly, if you think this is elaborate, the wedding itself won't be much better,” he continued ruefully. “But it's farther off, so we'll have plenty of time to prepare.”

She made a face and gave him a small push to suggest that what he was saying wasn't comforting. Adrian chuckled, and leaned down to kiss her temple.

“I apologize. But royal weddings are meant to be as much pageantry as anything else at this point. Once the main festivities are over, we can go to the ocean, however. Like I promised.”

She traced the number four on his arm, and he nodded.

“Yes. All four of us. It's almost a pity I can't talk Trevor into marrying at the same time.... but I think Sypha would clobber me.”

Uneasy feelings or not, Anna giggled silently, nodding in agreement. Sypha most assuredly _would_ clobber him if he suggested such a thing. But it would be fun to see, honestly.

“What am I clobbering you for?”

Anna jumped as Sypha and Trevor rounded the tall hedge, though seeing both of them with their masks pushed up helped calm her suddenly pounding heart.

“Oh, nothing,” Adrian said innocently. “I was wondering where the two of you were hiding.”

“We weren't hiding,” Trevor said, with mock-injured dignity. “We were _eavesdropping_. There's a difference.”

“Of course there is,” and Adrian shook his head in amusement. “Who were you eavesdropping on, if not us?”

“Basically everyone,” Sypha replied, rolling her eyes slightly. “I'd stay away from the roses for a while, Adelaide's throwing a _fit_ over there. Claiming loudly for everyone to hear that _she_ was the one who saved you after the storm, that _she_ should be the one marrying you... You know the sort of complaints that would get her sent to her suite if she came and said them to your faces.”

“I wasn't planning on going to the roses, but now I _really_ think we'll avoid them,” Adrian sighed a little. “Anyone else I should worry about?”

“Not really,” and Sypha shrugged. “Lots of disappointed ladies, lots of 'like father like son' comments, but no one else throwing a fit on quite her level. With any luck, this'll convince her to leave and we won't have to deal with her nonsense any more.”

Adrian chuckled slightly and nodded in agreement, his arm curling a little more around Anna's waist. She half-closed her eyes, and snuggled a bit, trying to let go of the tension, the uneasy feeling that something was still libel to go _horribly_ wrong.

“...pardon me ladies, Highness, sir...”

Adrian turned, gently tugging Anna with him, and she followed without thinking.

“Yes?”

The servant bowed, looking distinctly uncomfortable in the dimly lit garden.

“Highness, I apologize for the interruption, but their majesties indicated they needed to speak with you privately.”

“Ah... all right. Do you mind waiting with Sypha and Trevor, darling?” And Adrian smiled down at her, kissing her forehead lightly. “It shouldn't be anything too worrying.”

She wanted to cling to his arm, wanted to clutch tightly and plead silently for him to not go. But she only let out an unhappy breath and nodded reluctantly, slowly releasing him. Sypha put a gentle, comforting arm around her shoulders, and she leaned on her friend's arm, sighing unhappily again.

“I'll be back soon, so don't go too far,” Adrian offered. “There's still more dancing to be done, after all.”

He was trying to make her smile, but she only looked away; she wanted him to _stay_, but there was no way for her to articulate it.

“We got it,” and Trevor nodded when the silence stretched too long. “I get the prettiest ladies in the court all to myself for a bit~”

Sypha sighed tolerantly and elbowed Trevor gently. Adrian leaned in and gave Anna one more quick kiss, then turned on his heel and walked off. Anna reached out on reflex, wanting to grab his cape, pull him back...

“It'll be all right,” Trevor said, patting her head carefully. “This happens all the time, honestly. It's typically something dull, them wanting to know what he's doing and making sure he's not hiding or sick. He'll be back out quickly, you'll see.”

Anna looked forlornly after Adrian, then tucked her head against Sypha's shoulder again, unable to shake the foreboding feeling.

“We could find a place to sit?” Sypha offered. “Are your legs hurting more than usual?”

Anna shook her head lightly, looking blankly out over the garden. After a long minute she pointed towards the river; wasn't there a way down to the shore?

“What, to the water?” Trevor asked, surprsied.

She nodded a little.

“Why?”

Anna frowned. Lifted the skirt up a bit a mimed walking.

“You'll ruin the dress, _and_ Adrian's not going to be gone long enough for us to get there and back,” he said practically. “I know you don't give a fig for fancy clothes and all, but people are definitely going to talk if you do something like that.”

She scowled a little, and stomped her foot lightly, then hissed as she wobbled a bit.

“Okay, okay, easy.... Let's just wait here for him to come back, okay? See what Adrian thinks of the idea. I think he'd be a _bit_ upset if his fiancee went and got into mischief without him and all.”

It was only slightly mollifying; she didn't want the water to ruin the dress, she wanted to feel it on her feet, even if it wasn't the same as the surf on a beach. She was hoping the water would calm her down, help her make sense of the jumble of panicked emotions clamoring at her.

“....hey, where's your notepad, anyways?” Trevor asked after a moment, frowning a little.

In reply, Anna patted along the seams of the skirts, the tops, and then pushed at them so theey swayed a little before giving him an ironic look.

“Ah. Nothing to carry it in. Right. Sorry. You could have thrown some at Adrian?”

Sypha snorted a little in amusement, and Anna smiled reluctantly; wasn't _that_ a mental image, her throwing pieces of paper and something to write with at Adrian so that she could communicate.

“Hey, you could have thrown some at me too, I'd have helped you out. Since there's no pockets for you ladies~”

Sypha reached over and gently pushed Trevor, who flailed comically for a moment, then pouted at her.

“What a rude way to treat your adoring future husband,” he sighed dramatically.

“You haven't asked me _yet_,” Sypha said dryly.

“I'm waiting on Adrian. He'd kill me if he didn't get to see.”

“No he wouldn't. Lightly maim, yes, but murder is too messy for him.”

Trevor tipped his head thoughtfully, then shuddered a little.

“Noooo, I'm quite sure there would be murder, Sypha. Elegant and terrifying murder.”

It was easy to tune them out as they bickered playfully, keeping her eyes on the door Adrian had entered the ballroom by. Surely he would come out the same way, to reassure her that he was still there, still safe and there was nothing to worry about.

The minutes passed. Stretched. Sypha and Trevor's bickering began to take on a forced edge, then fell into silence as Anna shifted her weight unhappily from foot to foot. The church bell tolled the hour, and Anna's hands clenched in the fabric of her skirt.

This was taking too long. Something was wrong.

“....okay. Let's go find him,” Sypha said.

Anna nodded, and started to lift her skirts when Trevor gently caught her arm.

“No running,” he said sternly. “You'll scare people. We can walk fast, but if you run they'll think there's some kind of emergency, and then everything'll descend into chaos.”

If she could have whined, she would have. She didn't want to walk fast, she wanted to find Adrian _now_.

“I know, I know, but if you cause a panic over nothing, everyone'll get pissed. Trust me, okay?”

She sighed unhappily, but nodded after a moment. Sypha took Anna's hand comfortingly, and together they walked towards the ballroom.

“If you two promise to wait right here, I'll go talk to their majesties and see if they sent Adrian on an errand or something.”

Anna nodded, and as Trevor moved into the thick of the crowd, tried standing on her toes to watch him. Sypha giggled a little, and supported her when she staggered with a wince for the pain it caused.

“Maybe don't do that?” her friend suggested, helping her maintain balance. “It's going to take him a few minutes to get to the dais, and he'll feel bad if you're hurting more than usual by the time he gets back.”

Usually, Anna could be patient. And she tried, she really did, to be patient now. But by the time Trevor got back, looking puzzled, she was practically bouncing on her toes.

“Not only did they _not_ summon Adrian, they're not sure where he wandered off to,” he said. “If it were a _normal_ night, him trying to escape the crowds, I'd say he'd be out on one of the balconies, but... he knew we were down in the garden.”

“Should we search the gardens?” Sypha asked.

Anna looked up, then tugged at Trevor and pointed.

“Yeah, up there, usually. It's quieter, not to mention harder to reach if you don't know the way. Dunno why he'd _go_ up there when we're down here, but it might be worth checking out. Maybe he got distracted by something...”

Trevor shrugged after a minute, and started weaving his way through the crowd, Anna and Sypha at his heels. He led the way to a fairly discreet staircase, half-tucked behind thick velvet curtains, then started up them. Anna glared at the stairs, then grabbed the railing in one hand and her skirts in the other. She was not _about_ to be left behind, not when she was quite certain that Something Was Wrong.

She was shaking with the pain by the time they reached the top, and Trevor grimaced in sympathy.

“I can go look at the balconies if you need to sit?” he offered.

Stubbornly, Anna shook her head, though she did take the arm he offered for support, clinging to him a bit as she tried to convince her legs that they wanted to continue holding her up. She wasn't going to sit down until she found Adrian, and then it was very likely she's just sit on _him_ in revenge for making her worry like this when she was already feeling-

“Your voice is so lovely... I could listen to it for hours.”

Anna froze; that was Adrian's voice, out on the balcony. The gentle tone he used when talking to her in her room, as they worked out if it was just going to be a night to cuddle or a night to play...

“Oh my prince, you say the sweetest things~”

“...that's Princess Adelaide,” Trevor murmured, frowning. “What's-”

Sypha hissed at him as Anna clutched Trevor's arm a little tighter.

“It still feels like such a dream,” Adelaide continued, her voice syrupy sweet. “You're _really_ going to marry me?~ Not... oh, _you_ know...”

Anna went still, ice coiling around her spine.

“Of course, darling. She was never really someone I would have considered anyways.”

Anna had heard enough; she yanked away from Trevor turned on her heel, and ran back towards the stairs.

-

Adrian frowned, puzzled as he cross the floor towards the garden exit; not only had his parents not been looking for him, they had no idea why someone would suggest they were. They'd known perfectly well that he was in the garden getting some air with his adorable fiancee—and he quickened his steps a bit, wanting to curb whatever anxiousness had plucked at his Anna's spirit—and he'd do his social duties as he walked.

He paused for a moment to watch the dancing, half-smiling; for all her legs hurt her, Anna was a natural at dancing, graceful and nimble... and she seemed to enjoy it. Maybe if he was able to get her to come back inside, they could pair up with Trevor and Sypha for some of the more complicated ones. Trevor, for all he complained about it, was better than most people thought.

A flare of light caught his eye, half-blinding him for a moment, and he winced, shifting his mask up to rub them clear. A hand on his arm made him turn, and he blinked a bit in surprise; Anna stood there, smiling at him and looking more relaxed than she had out in the garden. She'd even put on her mask...

After a moment, he smiled at her.

“How, my darling, did you manage to lose Trevor and Sypha?” he asked, tucking her hand into the crook of his elbow.

Something about it felt wrong. Her hand was a little too thin, a bit too long...

“I plead an errand of nature,” she said, and he jolted in surprise, swinging his full attention down onto her instead of searching for the two friends he'd asked to keep her close. “And asked S.. Sypha if she'd get something from the buffet so they wouldn't be bored.”

“....you can speak,” he said, feeling stunned.

Strange, her voice sounded almost... familiar.

“Yes, my voice came back only a few minutes ago,” and she smiled brightly up at him. “It's it amazing, my prince?~”

“...perhaps it was the announcement,” he said after a moment.

“Oh, it doesn't matter,” she said airily, waving her free hand lightly. “Only _we_ matter tonight, hm?~ Come dance with me, won't you?”

He could hardly resist that bright smile, and thus followed Anna out to the floor, whisking her around in the graceful patterns they'd practiced so diligently between his duties and her lessons. Something felt off, felt _wrong_ at the back of his mind, but he pushed the thought away, instead just focusing on the dance, and on the way she was smiling. After all, magic _was_ a fickle thing, there was no saying what might or might not have returned her voice, so why _couldn't_ the announcement of their engagement have done it?

Absently he glanced around the room as they began another dance; Trevor could be a bottomless pit for food at times, but he knew how important tonight was to all of them. He'd practically promised to let him watch his proposal to Sypha, and he was quite sure if Trevor didn't do that soon, Sypha would try to eat his liver.

“What's wrong, my prince?~”

Something about the tone of Anna's voice was all wrong, but he pushed the thoght away and smiled down at her.

“Nothing. I just wanted to see if Trevor and Sypha were back yet. Trevor's going to miss a good opportunity at this rate.... and Sypha will probably never forgive him for it.”

“Oh,” and for a moment she sounded annoyed. “Well, maybe he's decided to do that privately and just tell you later?”

“Hm... I think I'll go upstairs and see if I can't spot him from the upper balcony-”

“I'll come too~”

He blinked in surprise even as she latched onto his arm.

“Are you certain? I know you're not fond of stairs...”

“But I want to stay with you...”

She pouted up at him, and for a second the green eyes he loved to stare into were absolutely the wrong color.

And then the moment was gone, and the pout had shifted to a more normal looking unhapiness.

“All right. I suppose it can't hurt, darling. We can sit for a bit up there too, it will be calmer... and you can tell me what's been bothering you now.”

The unhappy expression vanished like mist as the sun rose, and she hugged his arm, tucking it rather provocatively against her chest. It made him think of how they would end the night, and for a moment the air was much more close than he wanted it to be.

He managed to lead her through the crowd to the alcove that hid the stairs to the upper balcony, but while he would have taken them slow in deference to her chronic pain, she didn't struggle or stop even once.

“How do you feel?” he asked when they were at the top.

Something in her face, in her eyes, wasn't right, but after a moment she gripped his supporting arm tight and leaned more heavily on him.

“It hurts...”

A whine was not something he would have thought Anna could produce... but after a moment he mentally shrugged; he'd never heard her speak until tonight, so it may well have been that this _was_ how her voice was supposed to sound.

“Well, let's get you settled on the bench, and I'll see if I can't spot Trevor. Maybe he'll bring up something to drink, and it will help.”

She clung to his arm more tightly, and despite himself, he smiled fondly. She was so clingy, it was honestly adorable.

“Oh, all right,” he said gently. “I'll sit with you for a little while. Will you tell me what's been bothering you? I thought you didn't much like the masks...”

He escorted her to one of the outer balconies, into the summer air, and settled her onto one of the padded benches, then sat with her. Immediately she looped her arms around his waist and cuddled under his arm.

Strange... her head was higher than usual. Well, then again she was also wearing a lot more layers in that extravagant gown, so perhaps it wasn't that surprising.

“I was just nervous,” she said, her tone airy and light. “It feels like it's been so long since you proposed to me, I was afraid you'd... well, you might want to take it back.”

He moved to kiss her... then paused and instead just lightly squeezed her shoulder.

“Of course not,” he said gently. “I told you; I'm not marrying you because you'll vanish if I don't, I'm marrying you because I... because you're important to me.”

“You're important to me too~” and she giggled, leaning her head against his shoulder.

When she tipped her face up, he smiled at her, but held back. Something about this....

“I didn't expect you'd have such a lovely voice,” he said hurriedly, to cover for the odd idea that he _didn't_ want to kiss her.

“Oh, well... I'm only sorry it took so long to come back~ It would have made things so much easier.

“Mmhm,” he nodded a little, then gave her a soft smile. “Your voice is so lovely... I could listen to it for hours.”

She giggled and simpered, moving as close to him as she could get without sitting in his lap.

Why didn't he want her in his lap? That was usually the best place _for_ her...

“Oh my prince, you say the sweetest things~”

Her grip was tighter too... oddly possessive, and he shifted a little, trying to ease her grip subtly even as he offered her another fond smile.

“It still feels like such a dream,” Anna continued, her voice syrupy sweet. “You're _really_ going to marry me?~ Not... oh, _you_ know...”

Oh, he knew who she was referring to, and shook his head firmly.

“Of course, darling. She was never really someone I would have considered anyways.”

A gasp from inside, so full of hurt and pain that it was impossible to ignore snapped his attention away from Anna just in time for him to see Trevor yank the curtain open, fury black on his face. He caught a glimpse of Sypha's gown as she followed...

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Trevor demanded, grabbing Adrian by the jacket and yanking him onto his feet. “Pulling some shit like _this,_ Adrian?! Here I thought you wanted Anna to _live!_”

“I.. what?” Adrian blinked, confused. “I _do_ want Anna to live, Trevor, I want her to live quite happily...”

“_Really?_ Then why the fuck are you up here promising a _spoiled brat_ that you've been trying to avoid for weeks that you're going to marry her instead, when _we've_ been waiting on your ass down in the garden?!”

Adrian pushed Trevor off him, stepping protectively in front of Anna.

“Anna's not a spoiled brat,” he said sharply. “She's-”

“That's _not_ Anna you dumbass!”

Adrian looked over his shoulder, confused, then back at Trevor.

“Trevor, you're scaring her, this isn't-”

He should have seen it coming, honestly. Trevor wasn't one for using his words when he was well and truly pissed off. But the punch came it out of nowhere, and knocked him to the side, hard enough to send him staggering to the rail in a bid to stay upright. He raised a hand to his face, covering his eye, then looked over at Anna.

Except...

“_Anna_ has been with us in the garden this whole time,” Trevor snapped. “And now she's run off because of what you've done! I swear to God, Tepes, if she ends up dead because you fucked this up, I'm never setting foot in this palace again!”

Adrian looked from his furious best friend to the frightened Adelaide, half-sprawled on the bench. A strange jewel glowed at the hollow of her throat, and for a moment, her form was replaced by Anna's again, down to the last detail.

“...enchanting,” he said softly.

Adelaide-Anna attempted to simper, but Trevor's snarl made her flinch. He stomped over to Adrian and yanked him to his feet again, but as his fist pulled back, Adrian gripped his arm.

“She's wearing an _enchantment,_” he clarified.

Trevor's exhale was short and sharp, but he released Adrian and stepped back.

“Get me a pair of guards,” Adrian said, his voice soft with the rise of his own anger.

“Fine.”

Trevor turned on his heel so sharply that Adrian actually winced a little bit, even as his mind raced. Princess Adelaide had used a type of magic that was bordering on illegal, _on him_, in a bid to get what she wanted.

He stepped forward, and for a moment Anna's form was back, but the pain in his face, and slowly swelling eye was a distracting from the magic of the charm. He reached out, grabbed the glowing gem, and yanked it off the woman's neck.

The spell collapsed the moment the chain broke, and she yelped in pain. The mask was still Anna's, but the rest...

“Princess,” and his tone was cold. “I do not appreciate this.”

“I-I-I-....” she swallowed, and for the first time since he'd met her, actually looked afraid. “I only w-wanted...”

She burst into noisy, painfully theatrical tears; Adrian stayed remote, watching her more like she was a bug than a person, even as his mind raced. He had to get to Anna, had to explain to her what happened, had to _find_ her before-

“Highness?”

He turned; Trevor had returned quick, flanked by a pair of guards. The fury in his friend's face was hard to bear, as was the shame for being so easily fooled.

“Princess Adelaide is to be confined to her suite until further notice, for the crimes of unlawful enchantment.” He passed the broken necklace to the guard that _wasn't_ gaping at the princess's audacity. “This is evidence, and I _expect_ it to be kept safe. Am I understood?”

The two guards saluted, and the necklace was quickly tucked away into a pouch as they helped the wailing princess to her feet.

“D-don't _touch_ me, you f-fools!” she snapped between sobs. “My prince, _please_, I was o-only-”

“To her suite. She is not to be let out until this crime has been discussed with my parents.”

The guards nodded and bowed, firmly taking Adelaide by the arms, and escorting her off the balcony. Adrian immediately turned to Trevor, who looked no happier, but at least wasn't looking like he'd lash out at him again.

“Where did Anna go?”

-

It was amazing how the pain in her heart could eclipse the pain of her legs. How she could run, even in this mess of cloth that tried to hamper every step, how she could outdistance her more able bodied friend if she just ignored how much her legs hurt and _ran_.

She didn't try to take the stairs daintily, she skipped three and four at a time, as much a fall as a sprint, and only by grabbing the banister at the bottom did Anna manage to stay upright.

Logic told her she needed to calm down. Needed to see the king and queen, because they could sort this out. Lisa and Vlad _liked_ her, and they would call Adrian to the carpet for this, if privately.

She couldn't make herself move in that direction. She turned, blindly seeking another way out, and rushed through a door set discreetly back in the wall.

A servant's hall, she recognized dimly even as she rushed past them, startling people and ducking around those holding trays of food or drink to replenish what had already been consumed by the fete guests.

She found a path outside, and looked around a little wildly. Away, she had to get away. She couldn't bear the thought that Adrian... to see him happy, she would stand aside, but why had the words been so...?

“Anna, _wait!_”

Sypha. Sypha was her friend, Sypha would help, Sypha could...

Anna took off again; Adrian had said he'd marry Adelaide. _She_ had said she wouldn't stand in the way of such an event, and the only way to not do that was to not be there. If she got to the river, if she could get to the grand bridges that spanned the water... it wouldn't be as quick a death as the transformation to foam, maybe, but better to remove the temptation, to not remind him that his broken promise would assure her death.

But even the pain of a breaking heart couldn't compete with the pain that darted up her legs every time her feet hit the ground. She didn't usually push her body this hard; in fact, she tried not too, because the pain could exhaust her far faster than anything else.

Sypha caught up with her before she made it too far off the ground, grabbing her arm and forcing them both to a halt. Anna tried to pull free, but Sypha's determination was stronger than the grief, and in the end, Anna's head ended up on Sypha's shoulder as bitter tears poured down her face. She was going to die, and nothing could change that, so why couldn't Sypha just let her _go_?

But standing still, weeping on Sypha's shoulder, the need to run slowly changed to sheer exhaustion, and a need to hide. Eventually, despite the fact that the tears were still sliding down her cheeks, she tried to pull away.

“Anna...”

Sypha's arm's were comforting and strong, supportive, and after giving her friend a pleading look, Sypha sighed, and shook her head a little.

“...okay. You don't want to be in the palace right now, but... I'm not letting you run for the river. You're not thinking straight.” Sypha was quiet for a moment, then tipped her head a little. “...come on. We'll go to the shop. We can change into something sensible, you can have some tea, and we'll figure out what happens next together. Okay?”

It wasn't okay, but Anna suspected it was the only compromise she was going to get that would leave her able to reach the water. So she nodded listlessly, and followed Sypha.

-

Adrian hesitated as they approached the Belnades bookshop, glancing uncertainly over at Trevor, then wincing slightly at his friend's expression. He'd messed up before, had one or both of them mad at him in the past for something he'd done that they hadn't appreciated, but this was far worse than normal. He could argue that he was enchanted, certainly, but that didn't change the damage his words had caused.

At least Anna was still alive... when the guards had reported to him that both women had left, he'd feared the worst, but learning they'd left _together_ had calmed him. A little, at least. Sypha wouldn't let Anna do anything too drastic, not if she could help it.

Trevor muttered impatiently, then moved ahead and pushed open the side door that was used by the family when they shop wasn't open. The entryway was quiet, compared to the revelry taking place outside, and the foreboding Adrian felt only grew at the heavily weighted silence. Uncertain of his welcome, he shed the costume cloak and hung it up, then followed Trevor into the dimly lit kitchen.

Sypha shot up from her chair, scowling, marched over and slap Adrian across the face. He winced—she'd gotten his uninjured side, which he knew had to be blossoming into a bruise already because Trevor had _not_ held back in his punch—but didn't try to duck away.

“You have _some nerve_, Prince Tepes.”

He flinched; he hadn't been 'Prince Tepes' or really anything but Adrian to them for a few years now. That she was using his title and surname meant that he was in more trouble than he'd expected.

“It...” he pressed his lips together for a moment as she stepped back, arms folding across her chest. “I messed up, I know. I should... Where is Anna? Please, can I-”

“No,” Sypha snapped. “I _just_ got her to fall asleep, and Grandfather's watching over her so that she doesn't head straight for the river.”

“Sypha...”

But those blue eyes were ice cold, and when he glanced at Trevor, there was no forgiveness in his face either. Adrian sighed, found a chair, and slumped into it.

“Please... It wasn't what it looked like, I swear. The princess was wearing an enchanted necklace, I _thought_ she was Anna. And yes, I know, for someone usually so sensible, that was a _stupid_ thing to fall for, and I should have known better, shouldn't have... I shouldn't have believed she'd try and lose both of you when she cares so much for all of us.”

It hurt to be looked at with suspicion, but he had earned it. He clasped his hands loosely on his lap, and kept his eyes on his knees; knowing she was still alive helped, but he wanted desperately to see her, to speak to her. To explain to her that he'd been an idiot, that he was _not_ going to marry Adelaide, but _her_...

But to do that, he would first have to convince his friends that he had been an idiot.

“....it was an enchantment,” Trevor said grumpily. “Made my eyes itch something fierce, and for a second she looked like you.”

Adrian flicked a glance up in time to see Trevor gesture at Sypha; she still looked angry and unimpressed, but after a moment she sighed. Adrian shifted a little, and cast his eyes down again, trying to appear as humble and unhappy as he was.

“It had to have been a trick from the start; my parents weren't looking for me, and she caught me before I left the ballroom. It... it felt off, wrong, but... I... I just brushed it off. I wanted to be... _happy_, I suppose. To celebrate the engagement being public instead of rumor.”

Trevor muttered something that sounded insulting; Adrian let it pass because he was correct, and it wasn't much worse than what he was calling himself anyways.

“And now, I know, there's going to be more rumors thanks to what she did. I don't know if the enchantment only affected me, if they all saw be dancing with Adelaide like that...”

“Clean up for _this_ is going to take a while,” Trevor muttered, then sighed. It was less angry, and Adrian looked up a little hopefully, but Trevor was looking at Sypha, not at him. “If I hadn't known you'd run off after Anna, it might have taken me in too...”

Adrian glanced at Sypha and held his breath as she pressed her lips together, wincing a little at the thought of how much worse it could have been if Trevor had thought he was proposing to Sypha after everything that had happened.

Well, worse in terms of fighting, at least. Nothing could be worse than the damage he'd done to Anna....

“I think,” she said shortly, “that Anna's going to stay with me for a few days, and _you're_ going to stay at the palace doing damage control. If she wants to see you, that's her choice, but I'm not going to make her if she doesn't.”

It was probably the best compromise he was going to get, but...

“....if I promise not to wake her, could I see her...?”

“...fine. But if you wake her, I'm having Trevor throw you out.”

He winced a little, nodded, and carefully got to his feet, following silently as Sypha led him up the stairs and to the spare room that had somehow not been turned into more storage space for books. Sypha's grandfather smiled at him cautiously, clearly aware of Sypha's anger.

“Quite asleep,” the old man said softly. “A broken heart will make it harder for her to wake, I think...”

Adrian winced and carefully stepped into the room.

Anna was curled up on her side, a small ball in a small bed. He couldn't see her face, she'd buried it so well into the pillow, but he could hear the rasp in her breath that spoke of tears, and the occasional hitch that made him want to pick her up and hold her tight, whispering apologies until she forgave him for what he had unwittingly done.

His hands clenched into fists so tight that they trembled, but he bit back his own pain, bowed politely, and left the room.

He was going to have to do a lot of work before morning...

-

Anna laid in bed, head aching and eyes hurting. She didn't want to be awake, didn't want to be alive knowing that Adrian had decided to marry Adelaide instead of her. Had she been too blind with her own desires to see it, too lost in what _she_ wanted to think that maybe she wasn't what _he_ did?

She curled into a tighter ball and tried to ignore the sunlight that fell across her face; what was the point of even getting out of bed? What was the point of the food that tasted like ash that Sypha insisted she eat, the point of drinking water when she was just waiting to die? She's already lost track of the days, wanting nothing more than to drown herself in the darkness of sleep if she couldn't drown herself in the water of the river.

A hand touched her shoulder gently, and she flinched.

“Anna?”

Sypha's voice, gentle and concerned.

“Trevor's here. He wants to say hello. Is that okay?”

Unwillingly, Anna rolled onto her back and sat up. Sypha's expression was as soft as her voice, and she gently ran a thumb over the fresh tear streaks. Anna wasn't sure how she had the ability to cry, considering she hadn't eaten for two days, but somehow, whenever she was awake, that was what inevitably happened.

“He's a good person to cry on?” she offered.

Anna rubbed at her face and nodded, if a bit apathetically. She'd hoped it might be Adrian, might be him coming to tell her that what she'd heard was wrong, that she'd misunderstood somehow... but clearly that was not the case.

She was going to have to find a way to the river... at least there, the current would carry her towards the sea again.

Trevor stepped into the room, then plopped onto the edge of the bed and dropped an arm around her shoulders, unprompted. Timidly, Anna glanced up at Sypha, who just offered a smile, then let her arms creep around Trevor's waist.

“Guess you're not feeling too hot, huh, Bubbles?”

“_Tre_vor,” Sypha sighed, smacking his shoulder lightly. “Really?”

“What? I've been trying to think of a good nickname for weeks now, you know that!”

“Bubbles, though?”

“Well,” and he shrugged lightly, “you can't exactly stay upset when you say bubbles, now can you?”

Sypha's sigh was exasperated, but Anna found that Trevor was actually right; it sounded so absurd coming from him that her mood did lift, just a little bit. She managed to stifle the tears, at least, even if anything else was off the table.

“Now, I know you probably just want to stay in bed all day and be miserable,” lightly, his hand ran up and down her back, and he didn't seem surprised when she nodded, “but I'm here to tell you that it's probably not the best idea. Sure, it's okay for a day or two, and I'll go away if you really want me to, but you can't... let a thing like this fester too long.”

Sypha sat down on Anna's other side, and Trevor's grip adjusted so that he was holding them both. It _almost_ felt right, all it was missing was...

New tears burned, and the world blurred. All she had wanted was Adrian. She had thought she'd gotten him, but now she wondered if she'd just been lying to herself.

“....when my parents died, I didn't think there was anything in the world that could console me,” Trevor said after several long minutes in which Anna tried in vain to not start crying again. “And I still blame the king for what happened to them too, if.... not as much these days. See, we're a family of monster hunters, basically. Something goes bump in the night, eats a village, we're supposed to go out and fix that.”

Anna sniffled a little, looking up at Trevor; in her blurry vision he looked... a little sad. A little lost. She wiped her eyes with the handkerchief Sypha passed her silently, then tentatively leaned against Trevor's side a little more.

“My parents weren't the best, and my family wasn't the biggest before everything went to hell, but they did _their_ best, and managed to finish of the thing that was terrorizing the other villages like the king had ordered. But because I was too young, I wasn't allowed to go with them, and when I got the news... well, I didn't handle it well. What kid would?” Trevor leaned against her a bit in reply, then sighed. “When they learned what happened, I was immediately moved to the palace at the order of their majesties, but I was pissed and grieving, and then they took me from my home... Some days, getting out of bed was too much effort, while other days getting me _in_ bed took three fighters and a serving maid to sit on me until I was too tired to fight any more.”

He went quiet, and Anna half-closed her eyes, listening to him breathe.

“I didn't want anything to do with the palace, or with the king, but... the queen was nice. And Adrian was a stubborn bastard, even then. He'd had the best training for fighting, but he'd still let me beat him around the ring until I was too tired to hold my sword, and then he'd sit with me on the days where nothing was right... Hell, I'd shout at him and blame his father, and he wouldn't say a damn word to refute it.”

She flinched at the mention of Adrian, her heart constricting painfully. Sypha's hand softly rubbed her back, even as Anna wrapped her fingers a bit in Trevor's shirt.

“I still don't think I'll ever really forgive the king for what happened, but... well...” there was a pause. “Shit, I did have a point, I swear.”

In pain or not, Anna had to smile a little; somehow, that was entirely Trevor, which... was oddly helpful.

“....the point Trevor's _trying_ to make is that you're not alone, Anna,” Sypha said in amused exasperation. “We're here with you. I know we can't take the place of Adrian, that no one can. But we care about you too, and we'll help you with this. You don't have to see Adrian if you don't want to, but he's not the only one who's going to be sad if you try to leave.”

Sypha's free hand came up, smoothing curls out of Anna's face. It wasn't the same touch, never could _be_ the same touch, but Anna couldn't ignore the sweetness of it, and the comfort they were both offering.

“....is it okay to tell you something about Adrian,” Trevor asked cautiously, “or would you rather I didn't?”

Anna lifted her head a little, uncertainty warring within her. She _wanted_ to hear about Adrian, but not if it was about wedding preparations, or retracting what he'd said at the fete... After a moment she let out a slow breath and nodded shakily.

“He wants to see you.”

-

“She _doesn't_ want to see you,” Trevor reported, lacing his hands behind his head as he leaned back in the chair. “Sypha thinks she's afraid that you'll tell her everything she heard was the truth, and she's not capable of hoping for a good outcome right now.”

Adrian winced, and ran his hands through his hair. Quelling the rumors was taking more time than he'd thought it would; it had been a week since the fete, and he was still no closer to answering all the questions than he had been that first day. Not to mention he still wanted answers of his own, but he was still too coldly angry with Adelaide to talk to her civilly.

Admittedly, he would rather have thrown her into a jail cell than let her remain in her comfortable, padded rooms, but she was a princess, and while her scheme had certainly done some damage, she hadn't tried to kill him, so he couldn't respond so ruthlessly.

At least his parents believed him, and Trevor's own anger was more at the situation than at Adrian himself now.

“Is there any way I could convince her?”

“You'll have to convince Sypha first, and she's still ready to eat you,” Trevor replied, this time with a small shrug. “How's looking into that enchantment going?”

“Slow,” and Adrian slumped a bit in his own chair. “It's decidedly not local, and the make is too fine for it to be something cobbled together by anyone other than a noble enchanter. It could have come from one of the other great cities, but that's not saying much.”

“And Princess Stupid?”

“I haven't been privy to those discussions, but from what I gather, she's proclaiming innocence and general frustration with being confined to her suite. Father is close to banishing her for the charm alone, I think; he's studying it right now, looking to see just how bad it could have gotten.”

Trevor snorted.

“She'll hold to that line until she's thrown out, I bet, because she's a princess, and princesses can do whatever the hell they want,” he grumped. “Meanwhile, Sypha's still ready to shred someone to pieces, and Anna's falling deeper into apathy with every passing hour.”

“...can you convince _Sypha_ to let me see her, without letting Anna know? I just...” Adrian's hand curled tight for a moment. “I need her, Trevor... I need to see her, to explain myself, and let her judge me. I need her to know that I'm _sorry_, and that I fully acknowledge my idiocy...”

He missed her so much it hurt. He hadn't even known that was possible, but every day without her, without seeing her smile, or feeling her touch; without seeing her roll her eyes at a bad joke, or feeling the touch of her lips on his cheek... it ate away at him. He wanted to bring her to bed, to wake up with her arm thrown across his chest, her fingers tangled in his hair and her breath warm on his skin. He wanted to make love to her and know that every sharp breath was full of pleasure, take delight in the way she went limp after he brought her to the peak of sensation.

He wanted to tell her he loved her. Over and over again, as often as she wanted to hear it.

Trevor sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up even more.

“You know Sypha's still mad at you.”

“I know,” Adrian sighed. “I know that until I can prove it was an enchantment, this may all be for nothing. But... Please, Trevor. I can't make her believe me, but I need her to _know_.”

“All right, all right, don't get dramatic,” Trevor said, raising his hands lightly and letting the chair come to rest on the floor again. “Come on. I'll ask.”

-

“She's not ready,” Anna heard Sypha say as she unsteadily made her way down the stairs. “She doesn't want to see him yet.”

“I know Sy, but he's working himself to pieces trying to make up for what happened,” Trevor replied. “She can't see it because she's here with you, but he's trying to quell rumors about the magical bullshit that took place, and he's working way too hard for it to be anything but trying to escape his own guilt.”

Anna sat on the bottom step, both from the fatigue of coming down the stairs and an unwillingness to interrupt the conversation in question. Were they talking about Adrian? Was that why they were keeping their voices so low, making it hard to hear them?

“It really was an enchantment spell, then?”

“Far as the king can tell, yeah,” And Trevor made a disgusted sound. “They think she brought it with her from her home, because no one in their right mind would sell something like that and _not_ expect it to get back to the king's spy network at some point. Those things are illegal for good reason.”

The silence was thick and heavy, and Anna leaned a little more into the hallway, trying to listen in without getting close enough to be caught.

“...Sy, he's not sleeping so much as collapsing unwillingly for a few hours, and he's only eating enough to satisfy his mother,” Trevor finally said. “I know you're mad at him, but he does feel like a shitheel, and he wants to try and explain himself. And she's not much better. I really think they need to talk.”

Anna curled her arms around herself, and missed Sypha's response as the pain made itself known. She missed him, but at the same time she was afraid to see him. Afraid to know that she'd been wrong, done wrong to become human, to trade away her voice in the hopes that his love would keep her alive. Why did the magic have to specify marriage? Why couldn't she have just become human and had that be it?

She closed her eyes tightly, and took in a slow breath. It had been different, missing him before she'd actually known him. Her teacher had been right to label it obsession, because she'd been able to keep his face, his voice so clear in her memory, but she hadn't known the _man_.

Well, now she knew the man, and that made this need all the worse.

As silently as she could, she got to her feet and moved towards the front of the store. Better to vanish now, before Sypha realized she'd left Anna unattended and came to find her. She pulled a cloak from a peg, found the shoes Trevor had brought from the palace, and slipped out into the busy, bustling midday crowds.

After days indoors, the additional light and noise were an assault on her senses, but she did her best to not look as lost as she felt. She kept her stride slow, even, and moved around the people in the street, letting the noise flow around her like a wave. She couldn't step of a bridge now; too many people would see, and too many people would run for help.

But she could walk to the bridge, and look down at the water.

-

He'd seen her leave, loitering outside the shop as he was, unwilling to go in and risk Sypha throwing a book at his head. Just because she _probably_ wouldn't didn't mean Adrian wanted to run the risk of adding more bruises where the old ones have begun to fade. He'd ducked down to make sure that she didn't see _him—_because what if Anna saw him and ran?—but when she started walking off into the crowd, Adrian followed quickly after.

He almost lost her half a dozen times as she blended with the other citizens. If not for the way her step became halting and stilted after a few blocks—oh he wanted to rush up and help her, give her someone to hold on to—he might have lost her entirely.

His heart jumped into his throat as they approached the great bridges that spanned the rivers, and he picked up the pace, less worried that he would spook her into running and more that she might think to jump in the middle of the day.

He still didn't catch up to her until they were both on the tall stone bridge, and he had to push past a few people so that he could catch her arm and turn her around. Anna jolted in surprise, and her other hand came around, though it stopped short before it actually impacted. She stared up at him, and he felt her start to shake.

“Anna, please,” he said softly, unable to keep himself for catching up her other hand and holding it tight. “Please, may I explain? I know what happened hurt you, and I can't take that back.... But please...”

It would have been an odd sight if anyone had known who he was, but like her he was cloaked and hooded, had been seeking anonymity instead of being overt. Pleading wasn't usually the route he took when he made a mistake, but how could he _not_ when she had gone pale, and the pain had filled those beautiful green eyes?

It felt like forever before she nodded, then pointed down the river.

“Yes, I know a place where we can talk privately near the water,” he replied, unable to keep from squeezing her hand in relief. Thank God she was willing to listen... “But... stay with me. Please. And we have to let Trevor and Sypha know before they both decide they want to murder us for vanishing.”

She flushed, and ducked her head, the simple gesture pulling hard at his heart. He wanted to catch her up in a hug, to pull her close and kiss her until they were both breathless, until she burned with need for him...

He kept her hand, and when she didn't pull away, tucked it into the crook of his elbow. Her fingers curled into his shirt, and he felt the smallest bit of tension uncoil from his spine. He had a chance, and they would talk... but first they had to make sure Trevor and Sypha really _weren't_ preparing to murder them both for disappearing.

-

“When they come back to check in, I will tell them that you are both fine, and have gone somewhere quieter to talk,” Sypha's grandfather said with his amused, easy smile. “I am quite certain, however, that you will both be scolded quite vigorously for causing no small amount of concern to them.”

Anna blushed and ducked her head sheepishly; leaving silently had been selfish, but they wouldn't have let her go where she'd wanted to go, or see what she'd wanted to see if she'd made herself known. And Adrian...

She glanced briefly up at him, and found her heart calming a little at his own rueful expression. She couldn't say it was like the fete had never happened, because that pain still remained, and doubts plagued her mind, but that familiar expression, the way he tipped his head to the side and brought up his free hand to touch his forehead lightly in respect to the older man...

She looked away before he could catch her staring, and drew in a shuddery breath, fighting back pain and tears. Perhaps this wasn't wise of her, but if she was going to have to let him marry someone else, she ought to at least hear him out before she did.

Sypha's grandfather passed her a pad of paper and some writing sticks, which she clutched in her free hand, and she offered as much of a respectful bow as she could while still holding Adrian's arm with her other hand. If she was going to have to give this up, give it all up, she was going to hold on to what she could now, for the last few bits of comfort and joy it could provide.

Adrian took them back out into the streets, wending his way deftly among them until they were in a park that touched the edge of the rive. In the hot summer weather people walked slowly, with parasols and fans to help stir the air and keep them cool. The went close to the water, and Anna's breath came in small, short bursts as she looked across it; deep and blue, the bank on the opposite shore was covered in trees that displayed full summer glory.

Adrian helped her to sit, then sat himself with little care for the fine clothes he wore. Pensively, he looked out over the river, then let out a long, slow breath and hung his head.

“I hurt you,” he said simply. “I had no intention of it, and never wanted to, but I hurt you, and made you think that I was going to betray you and marry Adelaide. I... You remember how you and your teacher scryed me, and I put on an amulet to halt that?”

Anna nodded, uncertainly clutching at the pad of paper.

“That was an anti-scrying charm. As crown prince, it would be bad if I were able to be spied on at any time, so I wear that to prevent it. With me so far?”

Confused, she nodded again; why was he telling her this?

“Adelaide had... a charm of some sort. My father is still dismantling the spell on it, so I don't know the specifics of it just yet. What we do know is that it's the sort my parents have deemed illegal to own because it...” he sighed. “I should have known better. But when she wore it, I saw you. I thought I was speaking to, dancing with, and holding you. And yes, I am a fool, an idiot, and a thousand other insulting things because I allowed myself to believe that your voice had simply returned because I announced our engagement. You traded your voice for your legs, I have no reason to believe that you can't get one back without the other disappearing...”

_I can't get my tail back at all. For good or for ill, I'm human now._

Adrian grimaced a little, then nodded, looking away. She lifted her hand briefly, reflex alone making her want to offer comfort, but she checked the motion, and dropped her hand back into her lap, unsure now of what was the truth.

“Thrice the fool I am then... Every time I thought something felt off, felt wrong, I ignored it, and I should not have. I allowed myself to be taken in and tricked, and...”

His voice trailed off, and Anna's heart sank down into her stomach; was he going to tell her what she'd feared, that by saying he'd marry Adelaide, he _would_?

“...I'll understand if you feel you can't trust me, and no longer want to... to be my bride,” he said finally, remorse and regret thick in his voice. “If that's the case, I cannot blame you. But you're still... the one I want to marry. The one I love above all else. And I swear, I will marry no other _but_ you, even if that means I never marry at all.”

Her heart beat an unsteady staccato rhythm in her chest as she stared at him. Had a human ever made that sort of vow to their mer? Had a human ever _kept_ that sort of vow to their mer?

_I can't ask you to do that._

“You're not. I'm saying that's what I will do. It's all I _can_ do, to try and make up for what I did.”

_You were fooled. That's not your fault._

“You were hurt because I was fooled,” he countered. One of his hands hovered, then uncertainly came to rest on her knee. “That _is_ my fault. I should _not_ have been fooled like that. Not only did I hurt you, I've caused a score of vicious rumors to spread through the palace, and likely filter out into the rest of Braila that I'm still trying to get ahead of.” He paused, then ducked his head a bit, with a small grimace. “And if Sypha forgives me before the year is out, I'll be impressed.”

_She'll forgive you. She loves you. It wasn't your fault_.

But it still hurt, hearing him tell Adelaide he'd marry her, and the dismissive tone he'd used about her.

“...I know,” he said softly. “And... I know Trevor will forgive me eventually too. But... will you?”

Anna hesitated. _Could_ she forgive him this? Being enchanted, being lied to by magic made it not his fault, but the pain it had caused was still very real, and she was still badly shaken by it.

And yet....

He was being sincere. More than that he was being vulnerable, and locking away his chances at happiness in a bid to apologize to her, for something that was beyond his control and ultimately not his fault.

So she hesitated, then motioned him closer. Obligingly, obediently, he leaned in, then winced when she smacked him with the pad of paper.

“I deserved that... Wh-”

She cast the pad aside, threw her arms around him, and kissed him with everything she had.

Adrian fell backwards slightly, on hand bracing against the ground even as he wrapped the other around her waist to keep her close. He wanted to laugh in sheer relief, and instead settled for returning the kiss, letting himself fall back the rest of the way onto the greenery so that he could wrap her up in both arms, pull her close and keep her there until they were both breathless, until-

“_Really_ the indecency of some people!”

“In a public park, no less! My word, what _is_ this world coming to?”

He felt Anna jolt, and pull back, and he let her... but only a little, just enough so that he could tip his head back and glare at the two women who'd stopped close enough to make their comments. They glared back, and after a moment he tugged at Anna gently, choosing instead to look at her as she blinked and looked down at him.

He shifted his grip, bringing a hand up to cup her face, then pulled her back down so that he could keep kissing her. He was feeling just petty enough to enjoy the shocked gasps of the elderly women as Anna returned the kiss, her fingers curling a little in his hair as she did.

He didn't care what they thought. Right at the moment he was holding the most precious woman in the world, _kissing_ her again after what felt like forever. It had only been a week, but God, it had been a long one, impossible to survive without her there.

It was impossible to ignore the tutting, scolding sounds they made, and after a bit he elected to sit up.... though that was less to stop them scolding than it was so that he could get a better grip on his Anna, who seemed inclined to let him, even as they both panted for breath after the prolonged kissing.

“Far be it from me to instruct you, madams, but _we_ were enjoying the afternoon,” he said, casting them both a sharp, haughty look. “_You_ were the ones who decided it was worth the time to stop and stare when nothing required your intervention.”

He felt Anna's laughter as the two women spluttered, then hurried away, exclaiming loudly over his rudeness. He sighed a little, and adjusted the arms wrapped around Anna gently, feathering softer kisses to her face now that the initial surge of need was calmer.

“....I presume that... was forgiveness?” he asked softly.

She nodded, and her fingers curled tightly in his jacket. Relief was a match for the desire in his blood, and he nuzzled at her for a few minutes in blissful silence.

“...will you come back to the palace with me? Please?” he murmured, pressing his cheek to her hair. “We can take the afternoon, the evening... as much time as you want.”

She hesitated, then reached out and reclaimed the pad of paper she'd tossed aside to kiss him.

_What about Sypha and Trevor? Shouldn't we let them yell at us first?_

He huffed a small laugh and nuzzled her forehead.

“Oh, if you'd like... but her grandfather _did_ say he'd talk to her.”

_That was just to tell them that we'd gone off to talk. It's rude to not properly express gratitude, given the circumstances._

“You would rather be scolded by Sypha?”

She huffed at him, and gently jabbed him with her charcoal stick, making him chuckle. So maybe he was a little bit giddy with the relief of her forgiveness.

_I think if _you_ want to be forgiven by Sypha, you should let her yell at you while I'm there so she can see that _I've_ forgiven you._

Seeing the words written out made him hug her again, pressing his face to her curls and just holding tight. So many sleepless nights wondering if he could earn this forgiveness, and all he'd had to do was ask for it. He definitely did not deserve her.... but he was so glad she thought otherwise.

“All right, darling, we can go back and wait for them to return. But after...?”

Anna nodded, hesitated, then gave him a very soft kiss on the chin. He kissed the tip of her nose, making her duck her head, and producing the soft, sweet smile he loved so very much even as she gave him a gentle push.

He could submit to a scolding from Sypha, he could submit to _anything_, so long as it convinced Anna to come back home with him.

-

Anna checked the time, then raised her eyebrows at Trevor, impressed despite herself. He grinned a little and shrugged.

“When Sypha's mad, Sypha's _mad_, Bubbles. And you have to admit, even with it not being entirely his fault, she's got every right to _be_ mad. You're somewhere between a baby sister and potential lover for her at this point, y'know?”

She blushed and ducked her head a little before gesturing lightly at him.

“....I mean yeah. If you want to be? But I think right now you and Adrian need to stick together before we get, uh.... _inventive_.”

Oddly enough, that was reassuring; she wasn't entirely sure she felt the same about him and Sypha as she did about Adrian, but them knowing that she was open to the idea—open to many ideas, to be perfectly honest—was comforting. She had never _intended_ to stop him from being with them, after all, and-

Adrian emerged from the kitchen, looking thoroughly chastised, followed by Sypha who quickly came up to Anna and caught up her hands.

“You're_ sure_ about this?” she asked. “You really forgive him for what happened?”

Anna nodded, gently squeezing Sypha's hands.

“If it helps, I've been hit by all three of you,” Adrian pointed out, his voice filled with rueful amusement. “Isn't that punishment enough?”

Sypha mad an exasperated sound, and Anna giggled silently, squeezing her friend's hands again.

“Oh, all right, all right. But how will you pass off Anna's return to the palace?”

“She was feeling overwhelmed after the fete, and needed some space after all the people,” Adrian replied with a small shrug. “Since you're her friend and mine, that made you the best person to keep an eye on her while she caught her breath.”

“...not perfect, but hell, people are going to gossip no matter what happens. Might as well give them close enough to the truth as to not matter,” Trevor opined after a moment. “What about you know who?”

“Once Father finishes deconstructing her necklace, that'll be all the proof he needs to banish her,” Adrian said firmly. “And even if he doesn't _I_ fully intend to see her out of the country before the end of summer. I'll put her on the boat myself if I have to, and ensure every port guard knows that she is _not_ to return.”

“It's still a pity you can't throw her in a jail cell for a few days,” Sypha muttered, releasing Anna's hands.

“Don't tempt me,” Adrian replied, kissing Sypha's cheek as he moved past to curl his arms comfortably around Anna. “I'm quite certain Father will have a good number of things to say to _her_ parents, and someone's likely to get hit with some trade restrictions at best.”

“Doesn't feel like enough, considering what it could have done...” she retorted.

“I know,” and Adrian rested his chin on Anna's head as she snuggled comfortably back against him. “But that is, unfortunately, politics.”

That made _both_ Trevor and Sypha snort. Anna giggled silently, and just nuzzled a little as Adrian shifted lightly where they stood.

“At least we did learn something?” he said after a comfortable minute.

“We did?” Trevor drawled, one eyebrow going up.

“Yes. Promise to marry is not the same as actually marrying.”

And his hold on Anna tightened fractionally. She half-turned and nuzzled softly, curling an arm around his waist as Sypha snorted a little.

“I think we could have gone the rest of our lives without learning that,” she pointed out.

Anna shot her friend a wry smile and a small shrug; in truth those first days she hadn't wanted to wake up at all, but she was glad that she had, and gladder still that she hadn't made it to the river.

“...ready to go home?”

She nodded, curling against him fondly.

“I'm sticking around here,” Trevor drawled, and Anna looked up in time to see him giving Sypha a look. “Still have a few things to do.”

“Don't do anything I wouldn't do~” Adrian teased gently.

“Given your recent record, mate? Not hard.”

Adrian glared a little as both Anna and Sypha dissolved into giggles.

-

Adrian nuzzled softly into Anna's bare shoulder as the sunlight filtered into the room, feeling her shift slightly as he let his hands wander. They hadn't actually made it to the bed when they'd returned to the palace, but she hadn't seemed to mind so much... and he would be the first to admit that while the bed was comfortable, good for stretching out on, the couch required that they sleep tucked close, allowing him this most comforting of returns to awareness.

Having her in his arms again, feeling the curves and lines of her body pressed up against him... It may have only been a week apart, but he had missed it so desperately.

He moved some of her hair and delicately kissed the curve of her neck, making her shift again, one hand fluttering a little as if to reach for him. Nothing loathe, he shifted a hand up until he could twine his fingers with hers, tugging ever so gently until her eyes slid open and she was looking at him blearily.

“Good morning,” he murmured, kissing her softly.

Her fingers lightly touched his face, pushing back some of his hair as her eyes filled with sleepy warmth and she nuzzled at him a little. After a moment though, she pointed at the slowly increasing light and tipped her head.

“No, it's not really time to get up, I'm just a selfish bastard who wanted your attention,” he admitted with a small grin.

She huffed gently, and kissed his cheek, then covered a yawn with her free hand even as she snuggled back against him. He let out a soft breath as her rear brushed against his hips, and very carefully shifted so that she wouldn't think she _had_ to attend to the stiff penis that was very subtly poking her in the back.

Admittedly, he'd been considering waking her up with his hands if she hadn't responded to the gentle tugs, but the two things were not the same.

Her head came up a little more, and he kissed her again, gently.

“I missed you,” he murmured, nuzzling at her softly.

She shifted. Rolled over. Then tapped his chest softly before she snuggled into him again. She was clearly still not entirely awake, and in this state, she was cuter than ever.

“...would you like to move to the bed and go back to sleep?” he asked.

Because if she didn't actually want to be up, he was content to just hold her and let her sleep for a while longer. But she shook her head and lightly kissed the base of his throat. Gently she freed her hand from his, instead draping her arm over his side; he jumped slightly when she nipped at him, then had to laugh a little and kissed her forehead.

“Really? That's what you want to do?”

She pulled back a little, and gave him an arch look.

“Well, yes, I was thinking it,” he admitted, kissing the tip of her nose. “But that's _me_. If you'd rather go back to sleep, I can certainly wait until-”

Anna just huffed a little, then slid a hand up to rest on his cheek, cutting him off with a soft, sweet kiss.

-

“You don't have to be there, you know,” Adrian said as he adjusted his vest carefully. “It's going to be a very quick judgment, not to mention unilateral. It's not like the open court afternoons...”

Anna shrugged a little, carefully working her hair into braids as Sypha had taught her a few days before. It was less about the decision, and more about _seeing_ Adelaide be punished for what she had tried to do. She was only still alive because Sypha had been stubborn and refused to get out of the way.

_If you're going, I'm going._

“All right, darling.” And he leaned over to drop a kiss on top of her head. “I understand.”

Did he, she wondered, or was he just saying it? But after a moment she brushed the question away; it didn't entirely matter if he did or he didn't, what mattered was hearing the verdict and seeing the punishment.

She tied off the braid, then studied them rather critically in the mirror. It was maybe her third time, and they looked so... messy and haphazard she was tempted to take them out and redo them.

“It looks fine,” Adrian said with a faint smile, nuzzling at her gently. “Do you want to use the wheeled chair, or walk?”

In response, she stood up, and hooked her arms around his. She could walk, _would_ walk, and show Adelaide that she had failed.

He kissed her cheek softly, briefly wrapping her up in a warm hug.

“You looked very fierce there for a moment, my love,” he murmured as she settled her head against his chest and relaxed. “Remind me to stay on your good side.”

Anna huffed, unable to help the smile.

_I doubt you'll need the reminder. I'm too cute, according to you._

Adrian chuckled, and nuzzled at her again.

“Yes, and the cute ones are often the scariest when their wrath is roused,” he teased gently. “Just look at Sypha~”

She snorted, but he did have a point; their sorceress friend was certainly scary when she was really angry with someone.

She nudged at him gently after a moment, and he let her go with a reluctant sigh.

“All right, all right. I admit, having you there will ease my mind too, though I expect her to throw a tantrum over the verdict my father hands down.”

Anna leaned up and kissed his cheek, accepting the arm he offered to her once he'd donned the jacket that completed his outfit.

_Unrelated to anything, are you moving into _this_ suite, or am I going to be expected to climb three flights of stairs to the royal apartments after we're married?_

He laughed softly, and kissed her temple.

“Far be it from me to make you climb stairs,” he said gently. “And it's not like my rooms upstairs are really that much bigger than these, despite Trevor's comments to the contrary. With your preference to look after yourself, I might even be able to convince my servingmen they'd be better off with a different person to serve...”

_Doubtful. Your people adore you._

“Ah...”

He was blushing, and she beamed, pleased with herself. It was always so much fun to see what would embarrass him like that. He huffed at her after a moment and she put her head on his arm affecting cuteness that made him blush more, and also laugh.

She loved his laugh.

He helped her climb to the second floor, slow and steady; she was trembling by the time they reached it, but she didn't allow him to stop despite her aching legs. Instead she nudged at him until he continued, and they ended up in a large study that was more like a small library.

The king was there already, seated at the large desk, and glanced up when they arrived. A brief flicker of a smile crossed his face, and he nodded towards the long couch.

“Please, be seated. Are things going well?”

“Yes, father,” Adrian replied, easing her down onto the couch then settling himself. “We've, ah...”

Vlad actually grinned and Anna ducked her head as silent giggles consumed her. Really, Adrian flustered was adorable, and she wanted to see it more often.

“I'm glad you've managed to move past the misunderstanding,” he said, bland voice not _quite_ hiding the undercurrent of amusement. “I sent the guards to escort the princess. She'll be joining us shortly.”

“What about Mother?” Adrian asked, clearing his throat a little.

“She's decided to keep to her usual schedule,” Vlad replied, sounding unconcerned. “I expect we'll see her in a few hours with some specimen or another that she's studying, taking many notes.”

The fondness in his voice made Anna smile; it was really quite comforting to know just where Adrian got his sense of humor, not to mention his sense of the dramatic.

There was just enough time for Adrian to get them both some tea and a few cakes before Adelaide was escorted into the room. Though there was no actual drop in temperature, the mood in the room shifted to cold and stern. Adelaide held her head high, even simpering at Adrian as she walked past to stand before the desk.

“So, I'm here,” she said, looking more put out than contrite. “Why am I here, your majesty?”

“You are here, Princess Adelaide, to be judged for a crime.”

Her mouth dropped open, and Anna was just petty enough to be pleased by the reaction.

“A crime? I didn't do anything!”

“You attempted to trick my son into making you his betrothed,” Vlad replied mildly. “You did this by use of a charm that my lady wife and I have agreed is beyond the bound of legality in Wallachia. You almost _cost_ us his betrothed, and if not for her friends, you would be charged with murder as well as illegal enchantment.”

“But I didn't do _any_ of that!” she protested again. “How is it _my_ fault if my prince can't make up his mind?~”

Adrian shifted in his seat, glaring as she slanted him a coquettish sideways glance; Anna put her hand gently on Adrian's arm, squeezing softly.

“My son made his choice well before the day of the fete, and by choosing this act of enchantment, you have demonstrated a disregard for the rules of Wallachia. To that effect, princess, you are banished. You will be escorted to a ship, and they will take you back to your kingdom. You will not be welcome in this kingdom, and if you are exceptionally lucky, I will consider continuing trade with your family.”

Vald's tone was coldly bored, enough of a backhanded slap that Adelaide had nothing to say. She turned to Adrian, who drew himself up, clearly affronted by the idea that he would defend her after what she'd done.

“But you _promised!_” she wailed.

“I did not such thing,” Adrian said shortly. “I have taken great pains to avoid being alone with you, princess, for this very reason. Not once have we been in a compromising position, save the fete where your unkindness nearly cost me that which I value most. My father is choosing to be merciful; were it me, you'd go back in _chains_.”

Anna squeezed his arm again, putting her head on his shoulder. His other hand came to rest on hers, and he let out a slow breath.

“You will leave, and you will not return,” Vlad said, and though soft, there was power in his voice. “Am I clear?”

Adelaide's mouth trembled, and her hands fisted in her skirts, but slowly she bowed her head and curtsied. Vlad gestured slightly, and the guards that had escorted her in stepped up, and escorted her out as well.

“The emissary traveling with her will not thank me for the message he must carry, but I would rather not be misunderstood,” Vlad said after the door had closed behind the chastised princess. “They will be leaving shortly, if you wished to follow?”

Adrian looked down at Anna; she blinked, pondered a moment, then shook her head.

_We promised Sypha._

“...ah, yes, that's true. We did.”

“A previous engagement?”

Adrian chuckled a little.

“Sypha's tired of waiting for Trevor to ask her, so she decided she was going to ask him. She wants us there to witness.”

Vlad chuckled and nodded.

“Go then, enjoy the afternoon. You've more than earned it.”

-

“Do you, or do you not, want to marry me?” Sypha demanded, leaning over the small table and pinning Trevor with a pointed stare.

Trevor leaned back in the chair, and cast somewhat panicked looks at Adrian and Anna. Anna nibbled her stickybun looking amused, and Adrian held up his hands, indicating he was staying out of it. It was hardly _his_ fault that Trevor had been using every event he could to procrastinate.

“_Well_?”

Trevor actually cringed, and Adrian decided to take a _little_ pity on his friend and lover.

“Sypha, perhaps be a little less menacing? In the interest of being fair, it's hardly his fault the last attempt went awry,” he pointed out.

“...I don't want to _be_ fair,” she muttered, but she settled back into her chair with a huff of annoyance. “I want to know if I'm going to get proposed to before I grow gray hair!”

“If it would make you happy, I can give you the ring I've got now,” Trevor said, looking somewhere between annoyed and embarrassed. “I wanted to have the right _moment_, but-”

“I don't _care_ about a perfect moment!”

“You weren't acting like that the other day!”

Adrian leaned lightly on Anna, who was watching the bickering with wide, worried eyes.

“You should have seen them when we all first met,” he murmured as Trevor begrudgingly brought out a ring from one of his various pockets. “We couldn't go ten minutes without them bickering about something. I think it was their way of flirting for a while.”

“See this?” Trevor said, slanting Adrian a glare. “This is me ignoring you, to propose to my terrifying and wonderful girlfriend.”

“Yes, I feel so ignored,” Adrian replied, grinning as he felt Anna's shoulders shaking with laughter. Please, do propose before she decided to hit you with the chair. Again.”

Now it was Sypha's turn to glare even as she blushed.

“...still not sure I deserved that,” Trevor muttered.

“You did,” she shot back, huffing a little.

“Yes you did,” Adrian nodded solemnly. Then grinned a little when Anna tugged at him, head tipped curiously. “I'll tell you later. We're supposed to be rooting for Trevor right now, yes?~”

“Next time we're near a bed, I'm smothering you with a pillow. Just so you know.”

“That could be fun, depending on who else is in bed at the time~”

Anna elbowed him and Sypha cleared her throat pointedly. Adrian held up his hands slightly, still grinning, and leaned back, contently draping his arm around Anna's shoulders.

“Look, I got this from the old manor that I haven't set foot in since I left; I have my mother's jewelry box, so I can find another if you don't like this one and-”

“Trevor.” Sypha reached over and put a hand on his. “Just ask.”

Trevor flushed. Swallowed hard, looked away and lifted the ring. Adrian felt a pinch of sympathy for him; even knowing that Sypha wanted it as much as Trevor, it was still undoubtedly an unnerving question. Lightly he squeeze Anna's shoulder, and her hand came up, fingers twining with his as she snuggled a little more.

“...Sypha, will you... marry me?” Trevor finally managed.

“Of course I will. Thank you for _finally_ asking.”

Trevor snorted a little as Sypha presented her hand for him to slip the ring onto. It was very simple, and plainly well-loved. The silver band was thin, with a single, small sapphire set flush in the silver, and the Belmont crest etched on either side, and after a bit of testing, they found it fit best on the middle finger of her right hand.

“I can see about getting some of the rings resized by a silversmith,” Adrian offered as Sypha admired the way it looked. “So they fit both of you, when you're ready for the ceremony.”

“I won't stop you,” Trevor replied, plainly relieved now that the unnerving part was over. “We can go through it later, figure out... y'know..”

Adrian nodded; he doubted Trevor had actually gone through much of his mother's jewelry. Hard enough to just look at the pieces, harder still to pick one out and wonder what his mother would have thought about it. About everything.

Anna tugged at his hand lightly, then held up her paper.

_Don't I get one of those?_

“A ring? Well, yes, you do. There's the very elaborate proposal ring that I forgot about, sitting in one of the vaults somewhere. Mother said with was a gaudy thing, but it's an heirloom pieces, so it was only natural to be proposed with it.” And he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I was supposed to get it out on the fete, and got distracted by the last-second preparations...”

“Wait wait wait. _I've_ been told I'm not being romantic enough because I was waiting for my mother's jewelry and here you haven't even given _your_ fiancee a ring yet?” Trevor huffed a little. “Remind me again why I'm the one being made fun of?”

“Because he, at least, _asked_. You only just did,” Sypha retorted, though she leaned over to kiss Trevor's cheek briefly.

“Would you like to go pick one out now?”

Anna thought about it for a moment, then nodded, if a bit shyly.

“Would you two care to come as well?” Adrian asked as he stood, helping Anna carefully to her feet.

“Sy?”

“....You two go have fun,” and Sypha gave Trevor a smile that had more than a little bit of heat to it. “We're going to break the news to my family... and then maybe break something else~”

Trevor snorted a little, grinning at her; Adrian chuckled fondly, and gave them both cheek kisses before escorting Anna out into the summer sunshine to see what sort of ring his own lady might want.

-

“Is something on you mind, darling?”

Anna blinked and looked up from her book curiously. Adrian offered her a small smile, leaning down to kiss her cheek.

“You haven't turned the page in ten minutes,” he said gently.

She opened her mouth for a moment, then sighed and pulled some paper towards her.

_I wish I had my voice. It's ridiculous to wish for it, since I didn't have any other options for trade, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat to be with you..._

“But it would certainly make your life easier if you could speak,” and he nuzzled at her lightly.

_Basically._

She'd run into the problem several times in the month since they'd watched Trevor's somewhat haphazard proposal to Sypha. Sure, the courtiers wanted her opinion on things, but when the topic became complex, waiting for her to write out what she had to say became tedious to them, and frustrating for her. Sometimes the right word wasn't the _right_ word, and other times the subject was just too large to make it a short response.

And then of course they _all_ had to read it, and would come up with refutations she had to respond to, and..

She sighed and dropped her head onto the desk with a soft thump.

“Is there a way to get your voice back?” Adrian asked, rubbing a sympathetic hand across her shoulders.

Anna shrugged.

_I traded my voice for legs. Can't take that back._

“But can you trade something else? You didn't have much as your old self, but surely there's _something_ of use to your teacher now that we could trade to her for your voice.”

She blinked, and looked up at him in surprise. He kissed her temple and hugged her gently.

“Well, it's not like you're the only person who wishes you could speak,” he pointed out. “I adore you as you are, but I do know how much easier it would make things... and I'd love to know how you sound.”

His smile turned lascivious and she pushed him gently, blushing a little. In reply he snuggled her fondly, and let his hand drift down over her chest until her could tease a breast. She pushed him again, a bit more insistently, and he stopped, but not before she'd shivered a little under his touch.

_We're in the _ _ library _ _. Behave!_

“Oh, if I must,” and he sighed theatrically, bringing his hand back to a less intimate position. “Truly, though, is there some way to contact your old teacher, and maybe make a new bargain? Trade for trade?”

_I don't know. Theoretically, I suppose it could work. I don't even know if I can reach Atissa in some manner, honestly, and I have no way of finding her physically. It may be a pointless venture._

“Or it could lead to limited, fruitful contact. While I agree that we don't want to get overly familiar, on the ground that humans rather are a pack of territorial assholes,” and he smiled a little sa she giggled silently, “to use Trevor's words, surely there's something we can offer.”

_It should be me making an offer. It's my voice._

“Ah, but it's also your original bargain, and that might not work.”

She blinked, leaning against him absently as she considered the idea.

“What about scrying?” he asked after a moment, his fingers lightly stroking her hair. “If she's as wise a sea witch, a scry could let her know you want to talk to her, and perhaps she could come up with some way to communicate... I could translate, if necessary.”

Anna grinned a little.

_You'd have to take off your anti-scrying charm for that. Let her see who's contacting her and all._

“Well, I don't mind that. Do you want to try?”

She tipped her head a little, meditatively.

_Sort of yes, sort of no. If we did, I'd prefer to do it closer to her than Braila; we're sea mer, not river naiads. She couldn't come to me if there was a way to trade, and admittedly, I wouldn't ask her too. The water around here is... kind of bad. You know._

“I do,” and he kissed her temple lightly. “I know wedding preparations are in full swing, but we could try and carve out... hm... I'd like to go for a while, but a month may be the best we can arrange. A week to get there, two weeks to try and negotiate, and then a week back. Would you like Trevor and Sypha to come too? We could... perhaps start exploring some interesting options?”

Anna felt her heart jump a little, and heat in her cheeks. She was still leery of the magic, still worried that if she did or said the wrong thing that her fate would be the foam, but... she couldn't deny her curiosity. How different would it feel to lay with Trevor? How would she and Sypha fit together? What sorts of creative, pleasurable things could they come up with?

“I'll take that as a yes,” and he teasingly kissed just under her ear, making her shiver a little. “It won't be as comfortable as it was in the summer, but as long as we're _not_ there when winter hits, I think we should be fine.”

_What will we tell your parents?_

“The truth. Ah, you meant what will my parents tell the court?”

Anna nodded.

_Won't it seem strange if I leave with no voice and come back _with_ one?_

“I'm sure there's been stranger. They'll probably suggest that Mother found some sort of doctor who had some experimental therapy for you that worked. Or we could just tell them nothing at all, and let them be confused,” and the grin he gave her was so full of mischief, she couldn't help but smile back. “It wouldn't be the first time~”

_Sypha's plans?_

“Well, she certainly does intend to be married before we are, but that's more a function of ceremony and dramatics,” and Adrian rolled his eyes in tolerant amusement. “Royal weddings are nothing short of a pageant, and I'm afraid ours will be the same. But we can ask, if you'd like to. I don't mind it being just us.”

_'Just us' and about twenty guards, not to mention the servants that'll rush ahead to make sure the house is ready._

He laughed a little, and hugged her fondly.

“Well, yes. Do you want to ask them?”

Anna thought for a moment, then nodded, snuggling against him.

“Excellent. It should be an educational trip~”

_We have to try and contact Atissa first. I don't want to make the trip for no reason._

“...I mean, enjoying each other would be a good reason?”

She raised an eyebrow at him, and he sighed a little, then smoothed some hair from her face.

“All right, darling. In that case, we should go speak to Father and see if we can borrow his workroom. Do you know how to craft a scrying spell?”

She shrugged a little, closing the book and carefully getting to her feet.

_I used what felt right._

“....Father is going to _love_ teaching you...”

-

Adrian shook his head a little, sitting well back from where his father and betrothed were working. Vlad had liked the suggestion of making a new trade for Anna's voice, but was less than pleased by the somewhat haphazard way she seemed to be selecting the things in his workroom for her spell.

“How on earth are you meant to memorize anything like this?” he asked, handing her a bottle she'd indicated from a shelf too high for her.

Anna's shrug was eloquent, and Adrian hid a smile as she scribbled something down on paper before turning her attention to the jar.

“The right feeling is _not_ how spells are made,” the king retorted, eyeing the bottle with a somewhat proprietary air. “You're not even working with the ingredients you'd find in the ocena-be careful with that!”

Anna had uncorked the bottle with a sharp tug, and held the mouth near her nose. She coughed and shuddered a little, then carefully added a small amount to the large stone bowl. The concoction hissed and bubbled, and Vlad looked a bit pained, even as Anna looked satisfied.

Adrian leaned forward a little, concerned, but she waved him off gently, re-corking the bottle and handing it back, then frowning up at the myriad of shelves.

“There is a perfectly useable spellbook to your left,” Vlad continued with weary patience. “It would tell you exactly how to build a... Yes, I have a seashell. I have se....”

He sighed again, and Adrian stifled a laughter at the defeated look on his father's face. From a shelf over their heads, Vlad pulled down a small box full of various shells as Anna smiled sweetly, then picked through them gently, eventually selecting what looked to be a small sea urchin, and tossed that in too.

“Out of curiosity, how _is_ this supposed to work?” Adrian asked.

Vlad Muttered under his breath as Anna stopped to write, then brought the paper over to him.

_Everything I'm adding is something that brings Atissa to mind. When I have enough, I give it magic, and it should show me my teacher._

“Is that how you built one that showed me?”

She nodded, clearly pleased.

“That is _not_ how scrying should work,” Vlad grumbled.

Anna giggled silently, walked over and gave her soon to be father in law a quick hug. He sighed, grumbled a little more, then hugged her back, and Adrian snickered. It seemed his father could no more say no to Anna than he could to his mother. It was almost a pity Lisa _wasn't_ there, because she would have found this highly entertaining as well.

“You have to admit, Father, your way requires having something of theirs. Knowing them very well doesn't necessarily count.”

“Yes yes,” and Vlad waved a hand lightly as Anna went back to frowning at the shelves. “In this case, her method is superior, it's just... _haphazard_.”

“At least you know she's not likely to blow anything up.”

Anna half turned and shot him a grin that was just the slightest bit unsettling.

“So if a scry is supposed to let you watch someone, how will you actually _speak_ with her?”

_Funny word choice._

“You know what I mean, darling,” Adrian said, offering an apologetic kiss anyways.

“Usually you need a communication spell, not a scry,” Vlad said with a frown. “It's a fair question.”

_Atissa's an accomplished sea witch. She knows when she's being scryed with intent, and she can grab the thread of it to open sight. I don't know how she does it, but I've seen her do it before. As long as I can hold my end steady, we can communicate._

Adrian shared a skeptical look with his father, but so far, Anna hadn't been wrong.

After another moment of staring at the shelves, Anna nodded, and put her hands on either side of the stone bowl, closing her eyes. A minute passed, then two, then five. Sweat stood out on Anna's brow as she concentrated, and Vlad looked a bit concerned. As the king started to reach forward, the mixture began to burble, then flowed upwards into a silvery sort of cloud that swirled like water down a drain.

Vlad and Adrian both moved carefully around to stand at Anna's back, and in the depths of the cloud Adrian saw shapes beginning to form.Anna's magic formed a thin, glowing numbus around her form; it was clear that this wasn't easy for her to do, but when Adrian would have touched her, Vlad caught his arm.

“It's unstable,” he murmured softly as the picture grew clearer. “If you jostle her now, even to help, she might lose the whole thing.”

Adrian grimaced a little, but nodded in acknowledgment.

The images snapped into clarity so suddenly that Adrian jumped. A woman peered back at them, dark of skin, her hair even more coily than Anna's if much shorter. She wore nothing on her upper body, and her torso ended not at legs, but a long tail, much like an eel's.

“Oh. It's _you_.”

Anna beamed and waved, and the annoyed expression on the woman's face faded some.

“You look well. Good. What do you want?”

Anna didn't look bothered by the woman—Atissa's—abruptness. If anything, it seemed to relax her some. She simply pointed at her throat.

“I can't give you back your voice. You traded for legs. I gave you legs, I keep your voice.”

Anna tipped her head lightly from side to side, a motion Adrian had grown used to as her indicating that she knew what was being said, but she wanted to make a point.

Unfortunately, she wasn't able to make her point, so he moved carefully forward, carefully resting a hand on Anna's shoulder.

“What about making a new deal?” he asked. “I will trade something to you so Anna can get back her ability to speak.”

Atissa looked at him, her dark eyes narrowed.

“What would you trade, human? What value would you place on this ability of hers?”

“Whatever you deem fair,” he replied, gently squeezing Anna's shoulder. She was trembling, and he wanted this to end quickly. “I do not know what I can offer to you that would, as Anna puts it, feel right for your potions or spells, but if you tell me what you need, I will see what I can get.”

Atissa's eyebrows went up; he thought he'd managed to surprise her.

“Your harder gems,” she said after a little bit of thought. “The green and blue ones. Enough to fit in a bottle this size. Each.”

And she showed him a round-bottomed bottle. He'd seen numerous bottles like it before, and while it wouldn't necessarily be easy to fill, he was fairly certain that he _could_ manage it.

“One bottle of sapphire and one of emerald,” he nodded. “We will be down by the shore within a month... should we do this again?”

“No. I know where you will be. Throw the bottles into the sea, and I will bring the shell.”

The connection snapped, and Anna toppled backwards. Adrian caught her before she could fall too far, lifting her carefully into his arms as he realized she'd fainted.

“A difficult spell indeed,” Vlad said, studying Anna with clear concern. “Too difficult...”

“I gather she didn't do it often as a mer,” Adrian replied following his father out of the workroom and into the more comfortable receiving room beyond. “What I remember of it that one time at the seaside manor was that it was intent, but also... fuzzy. Not threatening, but not well-crafted either.”

“Hm... hopefully she won't have recourse to do it again,” Vlad said after a moment. “Do you need help procuring bottles or stones?”

“No, I think I know where I can get both, but thank you, Father. I'll put Anna to bed and start working on that so we can leave soon.”

Vlad nodded, smiling faintly at his son.

“You chose well,” he said as Adrian carefully opened the door to the hall. “I am very glad.”

Touched by his father's faith in him, Adrian managed a bow before he stepped into the hall and used his foot to close the door behind them. Looking down at Anna's unconscious form, he couldn't help the pinch of concern; she looked pale and worn, her breathing somewhat shallow...

Hopefully, she would never had to do this again.

-

“I don't think I've ever seen this many gemstones outside the royal crowns of state in my life,” Trevor said, holding up one of the bottles with a low whistle. “You're trading _these_ for Anna's voice?”

“It seemed prudent,” Adrian replied, taking the bottle and tucking it away. “One of sapphire, one of emerald... and a third of mixed stones, just to prove I'm sincere and would pay anything to get it back.”

“You're not worried she'll think you're doing too much?”

“Which one?”

“....yes.”

Adrian snorted in amusement, and reached over to shove Trevor lightly.

“Anna has already said she thinks I'm going overboard, that her voice isn't as important as I'm implying, but I think I would rather overpay than underpay. I value Anna much more than any jewels or gemstones...” and he smiled softly. “I want to hear her voice.”

Trevor rolled his eyes tolerantly.

“You are a dramatic asshole, you know that, right?”

“Coming from you, I'm quite sure that's a compliment,” Adrian teased, smirking sidelong at his friend. “Anna said yes, by the way.”

Trevor's eyes widened slightly, and Adrian's smirk grew smug. It was so much fun to startle his lovers sometimes.

“We'll take it slow,” he continued. “If she's open to it, I think letting her and Sypha figure things out first might go well before we introduce her to some of the other things we.... generally indulge in.”

“That... makes sense,” Trevor said slowly. “We did have to kind of... experiment for a while when we started.”

“Mmhm. Admittedly, I am tempted to be a selfish bastard for a while longer, but I won't tell her no if she wants to experiment. I think it will be... _instructive_ for all of us.”

Trevor snorted a little, and shook his head slightly.

“Instructive. Right. Wait, so why Sypha and Anna are... experimenting...”

Adrian just smiled, and nudged his horse into a trot.

-

It was very dull, traveling in a carriage while the boys rode horses most of the way down to the coast. True, it meant that she and Sypha could stretch out on the seats and not worry too much about stretching out, but at the same time it got tedious quickly.

After all, _Sypha_ could read while the carriage moved. Anna very much could not, and unless Sypha was reading aloud, she was left to the mercy of her own thoughts. Which was really no mercy at all, though she did her best to keep her anxious feelings to herself.

After all, why bother anyone with her worries about regaining her voice? She'd never known Atissa to back out of a deal, but she _did_ feel Adrian was putting more emphasis on her voice than was really necessary. It certainly wouldn't have _hurt_ her to go the rest of her life not speaking. It was just annoying.

They had made good time on the trip down, managing to shave almost a full day of travel off thanks to riding late into the night and getting as early a start as possible. Anna mostly combated this by dozing in the carriage for a good portion of the morning, as did Sypha.

And she learned many things on the way down when beds were available, oh she certainly did. She learned what Sypha's hands felt like, and her mouth, she learned hos Sypha had a tendency to dig in and scratch when her body reached the peak of pleasure. There was also a lot of laughing as they tried to figure out how to best situate themselves for mutual pleasure, and at least one venture where they both ended up tangled up on the floor.

It wasn't the same, really, as laying with Adrian... and if asked, she would admit that Adrian was her preference. But she was having fun learning with Sypha... and she knew she would have fun learning with Trevor too, before she became 'venturesome' the way Adrian liked to put it.

They had arrived at the house as dusk had fallen, admittedly more tired than invested in the idea of mutual play. Adrian had fallen right into her bed while she'd still been struggling to get out of the complicated clothing even a casual princess was allowed to wear, and had been fast asleep before she'd managed to get into bed. It had been cute, the way he'd shifted close to her even though he was clearly passed out, and she'd snuggled into his hold willingly.

But it was dawn now, and she'd felt a gentle, insistent tug that had pulled her out of bed, coaxing her softly to the balcony. She didn't _like_ heights, but the balcony railing was thick and cool under her hands, mostly reassuring as she looked down towards the sea.

In the gray, pre-dawn light, the expanse of water looked beautiful... but it no longer looked like home. She missed it, in an absent sort of way, missing being able to swim through the water and not worry about whether or not she was on time, early, or late, missed the carefree timelessness, but...

She glanced over her shoulder at the bedroom, and her smile went soft, heart warm. Adrian was standing in the doorway, hair tussled from slumber, still plainly half-asleep. But he picked his way across to her, movements full of a lethargic grace, and she knew even before he'd draped himself over her that she was exactly where she was supposed to be.

“You're up early,” he murmured, nuzzling at her blearily. “Aren't you tired still?”

She rocked her head from side to side, not quite managing to stifle her yawn. She _was_ tired, actually, and would have rather been in bed, but...

After a moment she pointed down towards the rocks.

“Ah. You think your teacher is down there now?”

Anna nodded. It made sense; Atissa wouldn't come out in full daylight, not when this beach was so well traveled by other humans. But dawn, dusk, possibly even midnight.... yes, her teacher would come at those times.

“That's kind of her. Getting this sort of thing done with quickly so we don't have to worry...”

She was less certain it was about kindness than expediency. Once this deal was done, it would be the last contact Anna would have with the sea, the last tie, fully broken. Part of her didn't want that to end, and she knew had it been left to her, she would have delayed, or tried to, as much as possible.

So perhaps it was for the best that Atissa was doing it now.

“Give me a moment...”

He pulled away, though now without dropping a soft kiss on her neck first, and went back to the bedroom, emerging about five minutes later more properly dressed, and her dressing gown in one hand.

“It'll take too long to get you into the proper amount of clothes,” he said with a small grin. “And then out of them again when we come back~”

She scoffed at him gently, and pulled the robe on; it felt much too warm for the sort of day that was blossoming, but humans and their fussing about clothes...

-

Adrian followed Anna down onto the beach, two bottles in his hands with her carrying the third. At this hour, the beach was absolutely deserted, save the occasional gull, and he found himself liking it. Perhaps they could walk along it after, and see...

“I wonder if that wrecked boat is still there...”

Anna turned to look speculatively down the beach, then shrugged a little. Posture alone suggested she was a little curious, but not so much that she wanted to actually scamper off and find out.

“Voice first, question after?” he teased gently.

She tipped her head back and stuck her tongue out at him. Chuckling, he leaned down to give her a quick kiss on the cheek, and nudged against her gently.

“All right. It _is_ too early to tease, you are correct.”

Anna's snort was eloquent; she didn't believe he'd stop for a moment.

They waded into the surf, and Anna was up to her waist near some of the deeper rocks when a hand emerged from behind one. In it was a shell that Adrian identified after a moment as a tulip shell. Anna gestured lightly, setting her bottle on top of the rock then backing away. Puzzled, he looked at her, then stepped forward, wading into the water with care for the way it tugged at his legs. He set his bottles on the rock with hers, then swore a little as the brown arm lobbed the shell right at Anna.

Anna caught it, hugging it gently to her chest, and Adrian watched in surprise as what looked like golden threads spilled out, and wrapped around her throat.

When he turned back to look, wanting to say something, the bottles were gone.

Uncertainly, worriedly, he waded back to Anna as the sun spilled light down onto the ocean. She still held the shell gently, and when she sighed, it came with the softest of sounds. After another moment she looked up at him and smiled, her expression turning suddenly very shy.

“...don't know what to say?” he asked after a moment, smiling at her.

Shy became sheepish and she shook her head a little. His smile widened, softened, and he moved closer until he could wrap her up in his arms, pressing little kisses to her face. Her eyes closed and she hummed softly, a sound of peace and contentment.

“Good morning Anna,” he murmured, planting a small kiss by her ear.

“...good morning... Adrian...”

Her voice sounded a bit rough, a bit hoarse, and he felt her grimace more than saw it. One of her hands lifted to touch her throat, and he kissed the fingers making her squeak a little in surprise.

“It's been a while since you spoke,” he said gently. “We don't we go back to the manor and see.... about warming it up a little?”

He chuckled a little as she blushed faintly, then swept her up out of the water, making her squeak and cling to him.

“A-Adrian!”

Flustered. Adorable. He kissed her fondly, then continued out of the water, cradling her to his chest. He was going to make her cry out his name more than a few times before the morning was over, and he looked forward to hearing every single one.

-

“I don't understand, why is it bad luck for the bride and groom to meet before the ceremony?” Anna asked as she straightened Sypha's veil carefully.

Sypha shrugged.

“I suppose it has to do with how shallow men can be,” she suggested with a small grin. “'Oh no, I don't find her attractive enough, let's not get married.' or something like that.”

That didn't explain much, and Anna only shook her head after a moment, baffled by the idea.

“Every time I think I have humans figured out....”

Sypha laughed, and hugged her fondly.

“We're a mad species~”

“_Clearly_. And I'm part of that now...”

Amusement faded into sympathy.

“Negotiations going badly?”

Anna sighed and settled onto a stool after making sure there was nothing on it.

“I don't understand the need for dramatic pageantry. I'm marrying Adrian, it's going to be the middle of winter—and I'm already not liking fall, thank you, why is it _cold?!—_and there's going to be at least as many people in the...” she waved her hands slightly.

“Church?” Sypha offered. “Wait, no, it's taking place at Targoviste Cathedral, isn't it?”

“That one. Yes. Very lovely place, very _big_. I don't see the point. I mean, if we have to stand before someone and saw vows, I'll do that, but it's just... it's so _much_... And so little of it is being shown to me, no matter how much I ask. Queen Lisa just says it's being handled, and King Vlad defers to her...”

Sypha reached over and sympathetically squeezed Anna's shoulder. Anna sighed, and curled her fingers in her skirts.

“And Adrian doesn't see what the problem is with letting them have control of it. He says it's easier that way, and when I try to point out that I'd like to learn, he tells me that I don't need to, that's the point of leaving it in other people's hands.”

“And you _didn't_ hit him with something?”

Anna ducked her head a bit, sheepishly.

“I threw several pillows and slept alone on the couch...”

Sypha tried valiantly not to laugh, but it burbled out of her after a moment. Anna just sighed.

“You're _used_ to it,” she grumbled, crossing her arms a bit sulkily across her chest. “I'm not.”

“Anna...”

Sypha moved over and put an arm around her shoulders.

“They just want you to not worry so much,” the taller woman said gently. “You're trying to cram years worth of knowledge into your head so you can learn how to help Adrian rule effectively. I would think that'd be stressful enough that you _wouldn't_ want to take on more projects.”

Anna grimaced a little, and had to admit that Sypha did have a point. With her voice returned, she'd had to add new lessons, in how to address people of her 'rank' and those lower. The common sentiment for people who weren't noble seemed to be 'don't,' but she didn't much like that, and saw no reason why she shouldn't at least be _polite_ to the servants who were working very hard every day.

“Not to mention your other studies...”

That made the grimace more pronounced; Vlad had taken it somewhat _personal_ that her manner of building a potion was based on feeling rather than a strictly dictated list of precisely measured ingredients. He had taken to borrowing her for a couple of hours after dinner and having her work on making things his way. She didn't like it, but she did it more because she liked _him_ than because his methods made sense to her.

She was, however, getting rather close to asking Lisa to intervene. It wasn't like she'd _planned_ on using potions when her healing magic was getting stronger the more she used it. Doing rounds with Lisa, healing where her skills at doctoring could not address the problem, was good training as well.

“You don't have to fill every hour of the day with something,” Sypha finished with a faint smile. “You can take time to just relax, you know...”

“...but if-”

There was a sharp tap at the door.

“Everyone's been seated, and your groom is looking more and more anxious,” came the amused voice of Sypha's grandfather. “I believe now is the time~”

“All right,” and Sypha got to her feet. “Then let's get this done before he starts trying to climb the walls... or worse.”

Anna sighed a little, and tabled the rest of her words. What was the point of upsetting everyone on this particular day? She could grin and bear this nonsense for a little while longer... really. She could.

So why Sypha pressed a quick kiss to her cheek, she jumped about a foot.

“It'll be okay,” she said reassuringly, replacing the veil over her face. “You'll figure it out.”

“...mm. Let's go stun Trevor, shall we?”

Sypha's grin was radiant, and Anna couldn't help but smile back.

-

Anna lifted her hands to the snow, and Adrian smiled fondly as she watched the flakes melt on her warm skin. He'd been looking forward to seeing how she would react, and with the snow falling thickly now, having blanketed Braila overnight, there was plenty for her to play in.

He had made sure they would both be dressed warmly for her first foray, though she had stripped off the gloves almost immediately, as well as shoved back the hood of the fur-lined cloak. That was fine; it let the snow land in her curls, dotting the auburn with flecks of white, and when she turned, the cold had added roses of color to her cheeks.

“You might want to put your gloves back on, darling, if you're going to keep playing,” he teased gently as he moved through the snow to her side. “Your hands will get cold quickly.”

Anna gave him an impish grin, then lifted said hands and pressed them against his neck. He let out a fairly undignified squawk, making her laugh even as he stepped back and gave her a mock-suspicious stare.

“Trevor told you to do that, didn't he?” he huffed.

She grinned.

“Sypha, actually~”

“Of course...”

He shivered a little, absently rubbing the cold spots where her hands had briefly rested, then shook his head slightly.

“How _is_ Sypha doing? Still chewing on Trevor whenever he gets too close?”

Anna giggled as she pulled her gloves on.

“She's doing better. Not as sick any more, which means she's not biting him, no,” she said in warm amusement. “It was a bit worrying there for a little, but L... Mother agrees that she's probably over the worst of it, and hopefully it'll be smooth sailing for the rest of the time.”

Adrian nodded, admittedly relieved. He'd been too busy to get out, and with Trevor married, he'd been spending more time at the bookshop than at the palace. Anna had been only a little less—it had taken some wheedling and stubborn determination, but she had managed to get her hands on _some_ parts of the wedding preparations and had been quite happy to take on tasks that _weren't_ standing for gown fittings—but she had made it a point to try and get out at least once a week to make sure Sypha was doing well.

“Has Trevor's over-solicitousness disappeared?”

She snorted delicately, and crouched to start experimenting with the snow.

“Of course not. He doesn't like seeing her in distress... but he's asking now, instead of just taking over, so she hasn't had cause to hit him with pillows. You should go see them; they miss you.”

Adrian sighed a little, and tugged the hood of his own cloak up a bit more.

“I miss them,” he admitted. “In multiple ways. I'm just worried about intruding. They've only been married a few months, I don't want them to feel like...”

A snowball hit him, if gently, in the chest, and he blinked at her in surprise.

“Adrian, they _miss_ you. You're not intruding, you're part of their _family._ Them getting married, us getting married... it won't change what's there. You staying away hasn't helped Sypha worry _less_. She wants to know what you think _from you_, not from me. And Trevor could probably use some male attention that isn't from Sypha's family.”

Adrian sighed a little, holding his hands up gently when she half-threatened him with her next snowball.

“You are probably right, I just feel.... I suppose, awkward.”

“Why? Nothing's changed but a name. They still love you, and you still love them.”

He was less confident about that than she was; marriage _shouldn't_ have changed anything, but he thought it had. He'd assumed that Sypha would move to the palace with Trevor, not that Trevor would be spending most of his free time with Sypha.

Anna had started rolling the snow into a large ball, and he watched her silently for a bit. She was hampered by the skirts, but she didn't seem too annoyed by it. Determined, maybe, to figure out how to work around the obstruction, but not annoyed.

“....Trevor told me something the other day,” she said as she eyed the large mound she'd made. “He was jealous.”

Adrian blinked, making an inquisitive sound.

“When I 'washed up' on the beach and you took an immediate fancy to me. He was jealous. That's why he was so reluctant to be near me if he didn't have to be. You and Sypha both took to me so quickly that he felt ignored.”

Adrian blinked a little, surprised.

“I think _you're_ jealous,” she continued, patting the snow slowly into shape. “But you don't want to be, so instead you're keeping your distance and telling yourself you're giving them space to adjust to their new life. But their new life isn't any different from how they were _before_ they got married, except now you're in it less.”

She lifted her head, and those green eyes pinned him. It was a gentle pin, more like the stern gaze of his mother, but he still felt suddenly embarrassed. Almost ashamed.

“Go see them, Adrian,” she said gently. “Give them hugs and kisses. Sit in that noisy kitchen and have hot tea while Sypha complains at you for not being there as much as you should be. Whatever duties you have, they can wait, like they should. Family comes first.”

He sighed a little, then moved closer to her again, crouching down to see what she was making with the snow. She leaned on him, then kissed his cheek.

“It's not fair that you're correct,” he muttered, though there was no heat in the words. “I shouldn't _be_ jealous... I have you.”

“Adrian, even before I knew you, I knew that I wasn't going to be enough,” she replied, frowning a little at her snow sculpture. “The hope wasn't that you would love _only_ me, it was that you would love me _enough_. And I know you do. And I love you enough to tell you you're being an ass, and you need to go see your pregnant lover and help distract your _anxious_ lover before he gets hit with a frying pan.”

He winced a little at the thought; Trevor had a hard head to be certain, but cast iron was cast iron...

“...by myself?”

She glanced up at him, and her smile was soft.

“I'll come too, if you _really_ need me to. I don't think there's much left for me to do right now anyways, except maybe try and figure out this gifting thing for your strange holiday.”

Adrian draped his arm around her affectionately, and kissed her temple.

“You are more than gift enough, darling. How _did_ you get so wise?”

Anna grinned.

“I was young by _mer_ standards. Not human ones. Also, I pay attention.”

He huffed softly, a cloud of white misting the air between them as she giggled.

-

Anna watched in silent comfort as Adrian stood a bit awkwardly near the kitchen fire, a mug of warm cider in his hands. It wasn't really an out of the way spot, but Sypha had insisted he stand there to talk with her while she worked at something over the fire.

“You know, I've seen him at a thousand court functions, dancing with people he didn't like, and talking to ones he would cheerfully admit to wanting to throw into the river, and he didn't look _half_ as awkward as he does now,” Trevor said, leaning on the back of her chair.

“He doesn't like knowing that he was being unfair,” she replied, tipping her head back for a forehead kiss. “You two are important to him, and he wants to do what's best. He just has strange ideas about what that is.”

“...I mean, you're the one who's from a different sort of culture, doesn't that make _you_ the strange one?”

Anna giggled, and pushed at Trevor gently.

“Maybe I can see what you can't because you're all mired in it,” she retorted, taking a sip of her own mug of warm cider. “You have a special thing, and he's... still worried about it. How it all fits together, how it all _can_ fit together without hurting anyone.”

“...well, you're not planning on doing anything stupid, are you?”

She rolled her eyes tolerantly.

“Please. I knew the risks when I made the bargain. And I would have stepped out of his life if he'd found someone that wasn't me...”

“You almost _did_.”

“...yes. The point is, I won't leave him if he doesn't tell me to go, Trevor. And I'll push him where he needs to be if that's what it takes. If it's not me he needs, that's fine... I know he loves us all.”

Trevor was quiet for a few moments, watching Adrian and Sypha talk; they were impossible to hear over the other family members taking up kitchen space who were laughing, cooking, and jeering at one another, but Adrian had begun to relax, even smiling fondly at her when Sypha gave him a sharp look.

“...are _you_ jealous?”

Anna looked down at her lap, hands briefly clutching at the mug.

“A little,” she admitted quietly. “But it's not the relationship that upsets me...”

Trevor made an inquisitive noise, leaning closer, bu Anna shook her head a little; she wasn't ready to talk about it yet, not ready to air the fears that she wasn't going to be able to give Adrian children. After a moment he reached over and ruffled her hair gently.

“Well, at least things are almost to a point where you won't have to worry about that?” he offered. “Just a few more weeks and then your Royal Wedding will go off.”

Anna made a small face.

“...so unnecessarily elaborate and dramatic,” she grumbled.

Trevor grinned.

“Yup~ So glad it's you and not me.”

“I am absolutely going to bury you in some snow when I get the chance, you know this, yes?”

He snickered.

“You can _try_.”

-

“Nervous yet?”

Anna glared half-heartedly at Sypha, tugging uneasily at the ends of her sleeves. Sypha just smiled impishly, leaning back a little on the stool she'd appropriated.

“The number of people sitting in the pews, and the number of people I'm going to have to dance in front of are not comforting, no,” she replied. “And we're going to be standing for _ages_.”

“Unfortunately so~”

“...you're getting way too much enjoyment out of this.”

“Well, to be fair, other than the fete, this is the first time I've seen you so emotional,” Sypha said with a tiny, sympathetic smile. “You've got calm to an art form, you can't blame me for being a little amused.”

Anna could, but it wouldn't have been fair. Admittedly, she didn't really _feel_ like being fair.

“I know it'll hurt a lot, and I _am_ sorry for that. The priest really wouldn't compromise?”

“No,” and she sighed a little. “He'd accept me _kneeling_, but in this gown, getting back up would be more effort than it's worth. Sitting on a stool, no matter _how_ elaborate, no matter how much I doubt your God would care, was deemed rude and borderline.... b... bles...”

“Blasphemous?”

“That word, yes. So...”

Sypha sighed and shook her head a little.

“And of course it would be exceptionally rude to not attend the full festivities,” she said dryly. “Their majesties wouldn't mind, but the rest of the court...”

Anna made a face of her own, then sighed a little herself, setting the sheer veil to fluttering gently.

“At least I can sit then. That will help...”

“On the bright side, once it's done, it's done, and you won't have to worry about anything?” Sypha offered after a minute.

“....still one thing, but...”

Sypha's expression turned sympathetic.

“No idea yet?”

“...no... Mother thinks that once the magic recognizes the authenticity of the wedding, that could change, but.... there's no guarantee.”

Sypha stood, and put a gentle hand on Anna's shoulder.

“Whether you can or can't, you know that's not why he's marrying you,” she said gently. “Fertile, or barren, he'll never leave you, Anna. It'll be all right.”

-

Adrian shifted impatiently from foot to foot; the priest was drawing this whole affair out much longer than necessary. Anna was being remarkably patient, considering her legs were—and always would be—hurting her the longer she stood still. And she looked lovely, there was no denying that. The gown hugged her curves gently, belling out gracefully into a skirt with an abysmally long train—how were they supposed to dance with her in _that?—_the tiara on her head festooned with sapphires...

She glanced sidelong at him, her green eyes somewhat dull with fatigue. She was _exhausted_. Her morning hard started long before his, with the complexity of her gown, hair, and even the make up. She'd been up before he was, without even their usual morning kiss, and there was little doubt in his mind that standing there while the priest droned on and on about the blessings of marriage, and the love of God, was not helping.

If it wasn't a Royal Obligation to stay throughout the entire festivities, he would have been quite happy to simply put her to bed once the ceremony was over. Hell, he might do it anyways, once they'd had their dance. It might annoy the more traditionalist minded people of the court, but he wanted Anna to be able to relax, and _rest_.

The slightest of noises from Trevor made Adrian blink and glance up. The small, solemn ringbearer—a child from one of the noble families that he should have recognized but didn't—was holding up the pillow with the two heirloom wedding bands on it.

Adrian picked up the one for Anna, then caught her hand gently in his other.

“With this ring, I thee wed,” he said, offering her a soft smile.

They had agreed to keep this part as simple and quick as possible, and the relieved look she flashed him made him glad that he'd decided against airing everything she made him feel. He could save that for later... or better yet, just _show_ her later. Later, when they were wearing the simpler bands for everyday wear, and the heirlooms were back in the vault, when they could take a day and just sleep, or eat, or play...

“With this ring, I thee wed,” she echoed, her voice softer, shyer, and touched with undeniable fatigue.

Silently he thanked God that the feasting came before the dancing. Hopefully with some time to sit, she'd be able to recover some energy. He didn't doubt she'd be graceful while dancing—somehow, she always was, and he could easily lose track of time while twirling her around the room—but he didn't want to subject her to more than she could stand.

“You may kiss the bride,” the priest intoned.

Adrian lifted her veil gently, leaned in, and pressed his mouth to Anna's.

Now she was his wife, and he her husband.

Now they would see if things truly changed.

-

Dawn had touched the winter sky with pale fingers of pink by the time she was able to crawl into bed. Considering how late dawn arrived in winter, she was inclined to think that humans were just slightly mad.

Adrian shifted, pulling her close to him and pressing his cheek against her hair.

“My wife,” he murmured.

It made her smile, exhausted as she was.

“My husband,” she replied, nuzzling into his shoulder.

His hands stroked her back, soft and gentle. No demands, no desires; he was just as tired as she was, and clearly taking comfort from just the act of soothing touches.

“Adrian..?”

“Mn?”

“....it's a good thing we're both too tired to start something.”

She felt him startle a little, then shift so that he was looking down at her.

“...you're...?”

Anna smiled. Leaned up and kissed him.

“It's no promise of anything, I know, but... Yes. I am.”

He kissed her back, and wrapped her up in his arms a little more firmly.

“Well then... I will put my desires on hold for a few days, but after that, I promise nothing.”

She laughed softly, nestling contently in his hold.

“Oh no. What ever shall I do?”

“Hmm... enjoy it?” he teased, then yawned softly.

She nuzzled at him, and sighed contently as he pulled the blankets up even further around them.

“Undoubtedly. Sleep first. Life after. Yes?”

He nodded, and tucked her close. Anna closed her eyes, and surrendered to the sweetness of sleep.

End


End file.
